I'll be back:Of three Ravens
by N3L
Summary: DISCONTINUED.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I am not fit to own Naruto

**CHAPTER ONE: Mission Accomplished.**

Tsunade heaved a heavy sigh as more paperwork occupied the precious space on her desk. Space that she could've laid her head on and snuck in a small nap. She muttered from mere habit, "This Hokage business…it's all his fault-"

She stopped midway in her own sentence, a painful twinge in her chest. It had been about a year since Naruto had left the village. Even more annoying was once the village found out; all the elders celebrated his departure. Tsunade was infuriated at first, but slowly a year crept by and she soon accepted it, though grudgingly. Though the elders celebrated, the new generation was affected differently from his curt absence. They were brought down and seemed to crumble, the loud ninja seemed to be a unique pillar that held up everything in balance, barely, but what mattered is that he did.

She fingered a small piece of paper, the last trace of the blonde boy. On it was scrawled: "I'll be back." It wasn't much of a surprise that the hunter-nin didn't find him; she was positive that they didn't even do their best, now she wondering if they even tried looking for him. Anothere LUCKY coincidence was that the people who actually cared were already away on missions, Kakashi and Iruka. Both were on separate missions.

SASUKE'S POV

Team 7 was most affected by the boy's silent departure, so unlike from his loud appearance. 'Damn it, Naruto! That dobe! Why the hell did he leave?!' Sasuke mentally cursed at himself. After adding the fact, that when he left, the blond was able to bring him back, and that he couldn't do the same was infuriating to him. A flaw of weakness inside his twisted mind.

It had been a while since he had left, now they had gotten a new teammate a couple months after Naruto left, Tohru, who Sasuke didn't care even to notice till much later. But now, having been almost a year, he realized that though Tohru was no Naruto, he was a reliable teammate.

They were all resting after some vigorous training. None of them were pushed to their limits, there seemed to be no more point. Sakura, never really did push herself to the limit. Tohru simply didn't push himself to the limit because his teammates didn't. 'It has been awhile since I've been totally exhausted.' The Uchiha noted to himself. Naruto had affected him more than he wanted to acknowledge.

TOHRU'S POV

'We've all gotten accustomed to each through this time. They never did answer my question though.' So I blurted it out.

"Hey, uh…Who used to be the other team member of Team 7?" To my surprise, the tension in the air came with a sudden rush. Sakura and Sasuke visibly tensed. 'It has been almost a year already…it is still a tender subject?' Sensing the fragile territory that I had tread into, I countered my question, "Uh…it's ok if you guy don't wanna talk about it – I mean uh- you don't have to—"

"No, it's ok."

I was interrupted by Sakura, though she didn't seem too thrilled at all by the idea of answering. Now that I think of it, she looked almost guilty…hell looking at the both of them, they both looked guilty. Did they do have something to do with it?

"Our past teammate was Uzumaki Naruto." Somewhere far off, a blonde sneezed his brains out

"Oh." I acknowledged. I mean, what was I supposed to say? I felt that it would be 'unwise' to push any further, till the tensed boy on the other side answered my unspoken question.

"We don't know what happened or why he suddenly decided to quit." Sasuke replied, almost darkly.

"He just all of a sudden quit, and before we knew it, well you came. Yeah, there's not a lot to it…so um." The pink haired girl continued, though to no avail.

Er…what the hell am I supposed to say to that?…"Oh, well was that it? This Uzumaki guy just like suddenly disappeared on day and left without telling you guys anything? No offense or anything, but he sorta sounds like a bastard for doing that. I mean not saying anything and that-"I trailed off pathetically, unsure of what to do. I thought that I had a story coming, not shreds of sentences and a measly name. Though it may still be a tender subject but still…I was getting more curious by the minute.

"He wasn't a bastard! He was just kinda…well…annoying sometimes…" Sakura trailed off, eyes looking to the ground, lips slightly curving up like she was reliving some memories shared with this boy. My gaze drifted to the other male member of the team, he held the same position as the female ninja, though minus the curving lips. He wore a blank/brooding face as usual though it darkened more.

SAKURA'S POV

'I wonder where Naruto is right now.'

I thought about my first impression on Naruto, I thought that he was loud, annoying and a useless teammate. Always smiling like an idiot blissfully ignorant to the troubles of the world. And he proved himself to be a different person at times…like that time when that Gaara guy came…I thought that Sasuke-kun had saved me…but it turned out to be Naruto instead. I couldn't believe it at first. I mean, Naruto? How could he? But then from what I knew Sasuke had never acknowledged the blonde's achievements, or even say anything about it. And Sasuke never joked. I still can't really believe it…even after all this time, I'm still sort of shocked that Naruto possessed so much power. Yet it all makes sense from all the times that he got us out of trouble…Naruto…

Then he even kept his promise to me, and brought back Sasuke-kun back to the Leaf. But that was when he started to change. He no longer was as hyper and loud as before, in fact, he seemed even more withdrawn, and he didn't even try as hard on the missions. His performance started descending…unbelievably…who knew that Naruto could actually be quiet and self-composed? It seemed that the whole time that was a fake Naruto, a complete stranger.

"Alright, you guys got the rest of the day off." Kakashi-Sensei interrupted my thoughts then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

NARUTO'S POV

A blonde sneezed. (A mile from the gates of Konoha.)

It was early dawn…my mind wandered back to where it all began…

flashback

"Damn it Sasuke. You bastard," Naruto managed out through ragged breaths. Sweat, dirt and blood clung to him like a second layer of skin. It was a grueling fight. Broken limbs were littered through his exhausted body. The beautiful blond hair was showered in blood; in fact, the color red was dripping of his very being. "Gah…" It took all of the Naruto's remaining strength not to collapse, and being even more stubborn, he fitfully dragged the battered body of his ex-friend and rival back, going at the pace of ten minutes a foot.

"You bastard…how could you…Sasuke, you fucking damn bastard." Naruto spat and then coughed wetly and even more blood was released from his mouth. It was amazing how much blood the small blonde's body had. Sure, every cell in his body was screaming in agony and protesting again his every move, protesting against every breath he took, but that was not the true pain that Naruto was occupied with.

The war between the boys was over, and Naruto barely won…but there was a fierce internal battle within the crimson splattered shinobi. And he was not the victor inside that raging war. The war was tearing at his insides as if they weren't damaged enough. "H-How could you…Y-you…" Naruto trailed off…his unconscious cargo was even more infuriating when not awake. Betrayal was searing him, and through his pain etched eyes, anyone could see that that look did not belong on such a young face, better yet Naruto's cheerful uplifting face. He stuttered to his friend, almost punching him in that state. Naruto always thought that he was weaker than the damned Uchiha, but now he proved himself wrong and that was a joy that he would later enjoy. Now the victory had done nothing to improve the bloody genin. Stinging tears threatened to fall from him as he continuously dragged his human cargo at a slowest pace possible.

After he had not gotten far…Shikamaru showed up along with a sand shinobi, a female ninja…he remembered…what was her name? I think it started with a 'T'? Oh yeah, Temari…that's it. I was so relieved to see them.

I remember him helping me on the way back and Temari dragged the battered and bruised body of that bastard along with us. The sun started to dry the blood and made me feel like I was shedding a layer of skin that I had long wore, that in a way I had worn…flakes of dark crimson fell, leaving a forlorn trail of bitter memories, hope and painful realization. Then the blonde remembered darkness. Naruto held onto consciousness for five minutes before he finally passed out from exhaustion.

SHIKAMARU'S POV

I can't believe it. Actually I can. Naruto IS a kick ass type now. I thought that he was a lame-ass type. But he defeated Neji…and so many others, now he even defeated the Uchiha.

At first glance I didn't even know who they were. Naruto was completely covered in blood, rendering him a completely red blob in the distance instead of the normal signature colors that he resembled; yellow and orange and now to complete crimson. Sasuke on the other had was, unbelievably, unconscious, but was also covered in blood and looked like a dark red blob from a distance, next to the bright red blob that was Naruto.

And even more…that idiot was dragging Sasuke. It seemed impossible! I mean just LOOKING at the battered blonde made me wince. Yet he dragged his teammate. Unbelievable. Well, that's Naruto for you.

I saw him give a small smile. A smile that I believe I had never seen Naruto give before. It was not the large toothy grin that we were all accustomed to. It was a small smile of faint happiness and looked surprisingly sad…and pained. I had never seen the blond genin like that in all the time that I had met him. It was so weird…even scary. As I helped balance his step…I noticed that he seemed a bit light…and deathly pale till he finally lost consciousness.

On the way back, I found the rest of my team members also in a fatal state, Kiba was found unconscious one the floor along with another of the Leaf's allies…the sand shinobi Kankuro carried him. And then there was Neji, also amazingly only unconscious since he had two fatal wounds in his shoulder and lower abdomen. Then we were even met up with another sand shinobi…a redhead with scary eyes… think that his name was Gaara from what the other sand shinobi were calling him…and along with him was that weird guy that was in the chuunin exam. They fought even other…and the thick-browed guy was really injured after that…why the hell was he here? Then following the marks I left on the trees…I worried about how Chouji was, and then found him, sitting under a tree that I had marked. I was afraid that he was dead. But thankfully…he had a weak pulse. So weak that at first I didn't even feel it. Gaara carried him with the sand. It seems that I am the only who wasn't severely injured Leaf from this mission along with that Lee guy, but he was still recovering from that big operation that he had, so he wasn't the best off either.

On the way back my mind even wondered to how everyone would react. The pink haired girl…Sakura…would surely be happy that Sasuke was back. I frankly don't care for that guy…being so damn troublesome…and betraying Konoha. It slightly even pissed me off, but then who gives a damn as long as we accomplished the damn mission. Though some of us even died! That sound guy was right…risking a whole team just for one person…it IS ridiculous…but he is a comrade of the leaf and there's nothing that I can do about it.

On the way back, the guards were hesitant to let us in…but gave a reaction that I didn't even think possible. I saw them sneer at…at…Naruto? They unbelievably sneered at him and asked whether if they could take care of him for me. I was shocked and felt my mouth hang open.

"W-What? Just let up pass, we need to see the Hokage." The guards finally let us pass…and I saw the villagers stare at us as we made our way. They went from two things; being angry and sympathetic…it was weird that they were sympathizing with us…yet they were pissed at NARUTO? WHAT THE HELL?

I couldn't believe it. I didn't want to endure it either way, so I broke into a run, onto the roof tops…everyone else followed.

It was the strangest thing, and I never did find out why they did that, even to this day, the blond seems much more complicated then he let out, seeing that he left, when he was always raving about being the next Hokage.

We put everyone into the hospital as the three sand shinobis and I reported back to the Hokage. Soon we all found ourselves in the hospital room that Sasuke was in.

TSUNADE'S POV

I checked on they rest of the boys and saw the state that they were in. It pained me slightly…they were all children of such a young age, yet they were so brutally injured giving their all in this mission. Thankfully none of them were dead, but I had to get to work at once. Neji from the branch family of the Hyuga had a very serious condition, no wonder the boy was unconscious, and if he was awake the pain would be overwhelming. I'm positive that he won't wake up for a while.

Then there was a boy named Chouji from the good-hearted large Akimichi(?) Clan. Who was as near death as Neji was, comatose. He must have taken those special pills that the Akimichi has.

Next was Kiba from the Inuzuka(?) clan of canines, he seemed the best of the unconscious four. He was unconscious and would wake up in a while if not a week at the most. Some heavy bruises and a few broken ribs and limbs.

Fourthly, the loud mouth blond that I looked forward to…Naruto. The sight of him caused me to be to be heartbroken as I saw the small boy covered in blood. At first I thought that he was dead and trembled while I approached him, reliving the past memories of my loved one's dying. I let out a huge sigh of relief as I saw that he was breathing. I grimaced as he was the worst off, for one I was thankful that the kyuubi demon lay inside him, as I saw that he was healing bit by bit, slowly, but at a pace where no human could reach. I figured that he must've fought the Uchiha boy.

From the looks of it he was near comatose, but knowing the stubborn blond he would wake up very soon. I smiled as I saw that he wore the necklace that he won. He still wore it.

Lastly, I saw the last surviving member of the Uchiha clan. I saw the boy….

Sasuke…and decided to ignore the feelings of anger inside as I checked his health status. Broken limbs, bruises, loss of blood and slight concussion. I checked his curse seal and felt more anger toward my former teammate. Orochimaru. T-That damned…sigh.

"I take it that Naruto had done this part?" I muttered quietly to the young chunnin next to me. I saw the boy's hair bob up and down slightly as a yes. 'Naruto, I knew you could do it.'

After telling the nurses and doctors of their conditions I ordered them off for the normal preparations. I would be taking care them personally from now on.

NARUTO'S POV

"Mmm…" I awoke in a bright white room. I quickly snapped my eyes shut at the blinding white and waited for the dizziness to subside. 'I must be in the hospital.' I tried to remember what happened before and only retrieved a memory of seeing Shikamaru and a blond sand ninja girl.

Then my sore ears registered the sound around me. Beeping of machines and faint breathing. To this I tried to turn my head, only to be greeted by a sharp raw pain that rushed up my throat and neck. "Ugh…."

Then at that precise moment, ALL my pain decided to bombard me. Every cell felt raw and sore…even my hair hurt. The world was spinning.

I gave a small groan again as I slowly turned my head to my right and saw, Neji. Apparently sleeping. I let out another pained moan as I took a huge effort to sit up in my bed. I shut my eyes as the world started to spin, soon I delve into a dreamless sleep.

Someone was prodding at me…? Wait, what? Huh…? I felt something in contact on my forehead. Something warm…and then there were soft sounds…they sounded, familiar? Then I heard something that sounded like my name.

I slowly cracked open an eye, to see a blurry figure over me. Finally after a few seconds I realized that the blur above me was Tsunade-baba. And that warm thing on my forehead was her hand. I gave a sheepish smile.

"Hi Baa-Chan." I watched in slight amusement as I saw the Hokage's eyes double in size from shock and then her eyebrows draw together in a moment from annoyance to return to their original places. Her eyes softened visibly as she saw that I was awake.

She gave a small smirk, " It's Hokage-sama to you, kid. I'm surprised that you're even awake now, how do you feel?"

I told her the truth. "My hair hurts."

"Ah, well I think that I can fix that a little bit." She placed her hand on my chest, visible with chakra, there was a slight warm tingly sensation and then the pain was less harsh.

" Hah…thanks Baa-chan. How long have I been asleep?"

" You've been asleep for only 6 days."

I felt my eyebrows shoot up, though painfully, my eyes widened at the answer she stated simply. "ONLY 6 DAYS? WHA DO YA MEAN ONLY? "

" Geez, shut up, kid! I can't believe that you can still yell even in that condition. And everyone else is bound to take longer. I can't even believe you were able to wake up this early."

I turned to my right, motioning at Neji. "How's everyone else doing?"

"The only ones that were in good condition, not to mention conscious where you guys returned were Shikamaru and Rock Lee, though Lee still needs a bit more time to recover from his surgery. The Hyuga over there, is going to be here for a while. Along with Chouji. Kiba is the best off here…only with a few broken limbs and bruises, but suffered chakra exhaustion, but he should be waking up soon sometime. You on the other hand, are the WORST off, so you shouldn't try to talk or YELL too much, Naruto."

I gave a small smile as a reassurance, however in her explanation she failed to mention the target of the whole mission. "What about Sasuke?"

"Well he's a few doors down and also unconscious, though he's comatose. Seems that you gave him quite a lovely souvenir from your last fight."

"Heh. Well the bastard was asking for it."

"Hn. I never did get to say anything about the mission. Good job, Naruto. I knew that your stubbornness and hardheaded ways would come in handy."

"Hey, I'm not THAT stubborn."

"Yes, you are. You're proving it right now. I can CLEARLY SEE that you are about to go back to sleep, but you're too stubborn to go back to sleep."

Well, actually she does have a point there. "Ch, not true." I protested.

She gave a wry smile. "Whatever, go back to sleep, baka." I did…reluctantly.

The next day, I sat up, and slowly got out of bed. I was wincing at the very sound of my sore limbs grinding together.I wandered out into the hallway, wondering where Chouji and Kiba were…also where that bastard lay. But to my demise, Tusande- Baba was on her way here and entered the hallway at the same time that I did. Why did bad luck follow me? Ah yes, it all started with that damn fox. The freaking day that I was born.

"NARUTO! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING OUT OF BED?" The woman all but bellowed at me. I cringed at the volume, I seemed to be very sensitive with sound, not to mention all my other four senses.

"I, ah, feel better?" Was the weak excuse that I came up with. I couldn't help but cower at the raging woman. I'm beginning to understand why Shikamaru always considered women in the categories troublesome and scary as hell. The opposite sex is truly frightening. I jumped out of my very bruised and broken skin from fright.

I slunk back onto my bed by the sheer force of her glare. Tsunde's looks could kill, maim and burn a person. It was getting hot in here.

"I was just wondering where Chouji and Kiba was." The fifty-year old woman looked at me, still angry.

"You could have just waited for me to show you. But just to let you know, they're all right in the next room, but I forbid you to visit them until I say that it is alright."

Damn woman, going all Hokage on me. Damn. That was the downside of influencing her to be one. I had to listen to her. "But why?"

"You still need to heal a more. And if you do anything stupid, you'll regret it. So just be quiet, shrimp."

"Hey!-"

"I said QUIET." I closed my mouth grudgingly.


	2. CHAPTER TWO: Realization and Recovering

**Disclaimer: I AM NOT FIT TO OWN NARUTO!!! (. forgot in chapter 1…)**

**CHAPTER TWO: Realization and Recovering**

KIBA'S POV

Ow. Man, I hurt. I hurt like HELL!!! I woke up in what I recognized as the Konoha hospital. Then I thought of our mission. 'Did we succeed? All I remember is that a sand guy showed up with some damn puppets and those freaky brothers. I think that we beat them. But what about the Uchiha? I still wonder why he left. Hell, I don't even know how he even thought of it in the first place. Damn Uchiha, he already has practically everything. Why the hell would he leave?

"Oh. You're awake." A lazy voice droned from the corner of the room.

"Shikamaru? Eh? Wha are you doin here?" The lazy bum nodded toward my right. I turned and saw an unconscious Chouji. 'Oh, duh, why else the hell would her be here?'

"Hey, Shikamaru?" He turned his head in my direction, a reply must have been too troublesome for him.

"What about the mission? Did we get Sasuke back and everything?"

Shikamaru nodded, tied up hair rustling in the process. "Yeah, Naruto brought him back." 'Wha? Naruto brought him back?" Damn, he improves so much that I don't even have anytime to catch up with him.'

"Wh-How did he?"

"I dunno, when I got there, Sasuke was unconscious and Naruto was barely walking and dragging him along with him. Naruto was covered completely in blood and then he fainted on the way back. That's all I know of, I didn't get a chance to ask Naruto anything. All that, the mission was a success despite all of our teammates condition." With that, the shadow user turned around and headed out the door.

"H-Hey!"

A head popped back through the doorway, it had a tremendous scowl on it. "What?" It asked impatiently.

"Is that all you're going to say?"

The face rolled its eyes. "Yes, there's nothing else to it." Then the head disappeared and soft footsteps echoed outside.

"Che, that's all there is? Man…" Minutes slowly crept by. Kiba muttered to himself complaining. But then, his mind shot to the target of the mission. 'I wonder how Naruto brought Sasuke back…and speaking of that idiot where is he?'

Then, as if on cue, the door opened and a particularly injured blonde limped in. "Naruto?" The blonde's eyes gave away that he was in "slight" agony, but he gave a famous grin. "Heh. Hey Kiba. You're awake. At least I found the room that you guys were in."

"Oh. Hey. What are yeh doing here?"

Naruto grin turned into a irritated frown. "I just told ya, ya idiot."

"Hey! I'm not a idiot. Bastard!" Kiba growled.

"Che. Whatever." Naruto turned around and then walked out of the room, though his limp gave him some trouble to make the dramatic entrance that he needed.

Kiba's eyes widened and furrowed his brow. 'No comeback? What happened to Naruto? Did he get injured THAT BADLY?' The boy looked down to his dog, Akamaru, who was on the end of the bed. 'What the hell happened?'

NARUTO'S POV

'Damn that Kiba. Just dropped by to see how they were doing. Maybe say hi. God, how annoying. I think that I'll just stop for awhile. Hell, I'll just try to heal faster. I'm not even supposed to be able to get out of bed as they say. Che, what good observations. When I can't even get out of my bed, how can I even get over to their room? They're so0o great at diagnosing me.'

'Or maybe, you're just that demon inside of you.' A small voice crept in behind his head. 'You know, that you're not the normal kid waltzing around here.'

Naruto shook his head. ' Shut the hell up.' There was always a nagging voice in the back of his head. One that was sharp and keen and the tip of a needle and not to mention, plain out cruel sometimes, but nonetheless, it was right. Naruto did get some help from the kyuubi, when it came to his injuries, and most of all Naruto Uzumaki was not your average 12-year old.

The blond heaved a sigh and then settled into his hospital bed once again. "Man, this is boring." He grumbled. "There's nothing to do here except lay here, and sleep. If only I were Shikamaru, he'd LOVE this life." At the mention of his friend's usual antics, he limped out of bed and approached the window at the end of the room.

It was mid-afternoon. A beautiful day, as some would call it. Not a cloud in the azure blue sky. Golden rays reaching through the glass, caressing the blonde's whiskered cheek. The sun hit his bright yellow hair, giving it a warm radiant glow. His beautiful turquoise eyes gave a lovely shimmer of the brightest blue. If one would look in through from the outside, Naruto would have looked like hope, almost too angelic to be on the earth, but instead, they saw him as the opposite, a ravaging demon.

Somewhere far off, a pale pair of slate blue eyes unlike his own, was scowling at the bright cloudless day, cursing at the bright rays of the sun.

He looked down upon Konoha, his home, all he had ever known. The streets of the Leaf were bustling around and about with activity. His baby blues looked down at the entrance of the hospital that he currently occupied. To his surprise, he saw a figure with pink hair that suddenly dashed in. His mouth turned into a grin, as he hobbled back to his bed, waiting for the green-eyed girl to arrive.

'Maybe she'll worry about me this time! Maybe her face will light up and she'll actually greet me with a smile. Maybe for once she'll be actually happy to see me.' These small thoughts swirled around Naruto's mind. He had always hoped that for once, Sakura would acknowledge him as a individual, more over, an equal. Maybe not an equal to her beloved Sasuke-kun, but as an equal to herself and the other people on the world. 'Just maybe this once.' Naruto silently pleaded. Ten minutes passed by. He stared expectantly at the door, ready to burst with a cheerful greeting, sudden he spotted a hurriedly pink head pass by.

'She just accidentally passed by.' Naruto assured himself. But to his demise ten minutes passed by. No Sakura entered the door. The blonde finally realized that his teammate would not come and visit him. He remembered Tsunade saying that the dark-haired bastard was a few doors down from his. The truth dawned upon him, and his lovely orbs darkened a shade at the conclusion. 'I should have known. How could I forget that all she ever cared was about that bastard? I kept my promise to her, but what would THAT MATTER? Even after he betrayed Konoha, even after the cold shoulders that he gave her, she liked him. She still preferred him to some dead last. How could I forget?' Seething anger boiled and burned away at his insides. 'Even after all that, she still cares for him. How could I POSSIBLY forget?' He though bitterly.

He returned his attention to the window that showed the corridor, waiting to glare at his so-called teammate. Sure enough after another five minutes the pink headed girl passed his view. Then to his surprise another figure clouded the small window on the door, he recognized it as his silver-haired, jounin sensei. His stood there right outside the door and seemed to be motioning at a previous pink-haired figure that had passed by. Then the tall figure visibly slumped as he seemingly gave up after calling the figure.

"Hi, Kakashi-Sensei." His visible eye widened slightly. "Naruto! You're awake! How are you doing? Well, I mean ah, feeling any better?" Kakashi strode over to the bed that Naruto laid on.

'Well at least, Kakashi had the decency to visit him.' "I dunno, Sensei, I guess that I feel better than before. Do you think that I'll get out soon?"

The masked face wrinkled a bit as Kakashi's replied. "Ah, I don't think that you'll be released any time too soon, Naruto, after all you still have to heal for quite a bit."

The blonde's baby blues cast downward, saddened by the fact that he would be held captive for a while longer, but then suddenly lit up with hope as they met Kakashi's one visible eye. "Well after I get out, can you train me, Kakashi-Sensei?" Excitement and hope adorned the very request.

The jounin's gloved hand rubbed a masked chin thoughtfully. " Hmmm, I don't know, Naruto, maybe. There's going to be all lot of things that I'll have to deal with. With the recent situation with Sasuke, Konoha is more alert since the presence of the sound nins."

Even Naruto's hair drooped slightly at the answer. "Aw, ok."

"Well Naruto, I got to go. I have some stuff to finish, ok?" With those simple words, the silver-haired jounin wandered out the door. Not to mention pulling out a familiar orange book from his pocket, before continuing his way.

A week later, an orange-clad blond skipped happily from the hospital.

"Ah, finally I am released from that damned place!" His arms stretched over his head, about a foot closer to reaching the heavens. He strode nonchalantly through the streets hoping to get different reactions, after all he helped in the process of regaining their precious Uchiha back. But instead, the looks were the same, incredibly some looked even colder than before. 'What the hell? I got him back didn't I?' Naruto mused to himself as he cringed inwardly. He quickened his pace, head lowered, and hands deep in his pockets toward the forest.

He arrived at a small clearing with visible marks of what damage he had done before. Scarred trees stood at an odd angle and trunks and branches littered the ground. Naruto gave a small smile at the sight that met his eyes, also at having some time alone. He was glad for a little peace, a little solitude to clear his mind and improve his skills.

Not a little far off, he knew that there was a small lake that he could visit. He would usually start training right away…but today…it felt different. He didn't feel like training just yet. The blonde set off in the direction o the lake.

Naruto looked at his reflection in the lake and gave a small smirk and he made on seal, gathered chakra to his feet and took a step onto the liquid surface. His small smirk softened into a smile as he observed himself standing on water. It was a little joy that fascinated him. He was ashamed to admit it but still it wasn't everyday that you could 'float' on water, and besides it gave the boy a wonderful feeling. It was a feeling between walking on air to standing on solid ground.

Suddenly, he began removing his jacket and revealed a dark blue shirt that matched the color of the night sky. And following that he surprisingly lay down on the lake. It was a lovely feeling. Floating above water, small currents threatened to lull him to sleep. It seems that he had taken up a hobby from a lazy friend of his and watched the clouds pass by.

From a bird's eye view, the lake looked like a fallen piece of sky, because it reflected the azure plain and fluffy white clouds. And in the middle of the fallen piece of sky, was a boy who bore golden hair, and eyes that mirrored the sky. And that boy just happened to be 'laying' on a reflection of a cloud, looking like he was lying in the heavens.

Seconds sped by, minutes gave no pause. How long had he been there? An hour? Less? He only got up when he could no longer sustain the amount of chakra it took to remain on water. He gave a depressed groan and rose to his feet and stepped off the lake gingerly, backside missing the coolness that the lake gave off. It had been around forty minutes till he had to get up. That showed that Naruto was improving greatly, sustaining himself for that long, uses up quite an amount of chakra, but little does he know that in the next week, he would be able to stay afloat for well over an hour.

"Hn, guess I better get back to training." Naruto sauntered off toward the clearing.

He gritted his teeth as chakra spun between his two hands. It was incredible that he could perform the Rasegan, considering that he had just burned most of it floating on the lake for almost an hour. "EYAAAAAHHHHH!" Naruto yelled as he drove the Rasegan into a nearby tree, shredding it to splinters on contact leaving a smoking crater.

Naruto panted and bent over, holding his knees for support. Most of his chakra was gone, there wasn't any use trying another jutsu's. With a groan the orange clad blond straightened himself and slumped down under the tree that he had just ruined. 'Five minutes…Just five minutes and then I'll start running.' He told himself. Since he couldn't practice any jutsu's then he was going to improve himself physically, mostly focusing on his speed, stamina and endurance for now, which would also help him obtain a larger charka reserve.

Ten minutes later, Naruto was running around Konoha, he was still on his first, and holding strong. He had to run at LEAST five laps around Konoha, before he would return home. Konoha wasn't small either, by the time he was finished he was panting and had sweat running down his face. He had timed himself and calculated that he had taken about an hour to complete five laps. 'Damn, that bastard.' Was what the kept him going till he finally couldn't go on without experiencing severe chakra depletion.

Unlocking his apartment door, Naruto staggered inside his apartment, threw off his clothes blindly changed into his PJ's (succeeding in putting his pants on backwards) and crashed heavily onto his bed. Soft snores filled his lonely room immediately.

KAKASHI'S POV

Kakashi had nothing to do, or that is he chose not to do it at this ungodly hour. He had been walking around reading his favorite book, the acclaimed infamous Icha Icha Paradise. Before the Sharigan user knew it, dusk had arrived and now it was past midnight.

As he arrived home, naturally his thoughts wandered back to his students. Sasuke especially, and also of Naruto's change in behavior. 'What would Sasuke do, when he wakes up? How will he react? Will he be raging? Attempt to leave again? Or hopefully he'll accept it. He should have grown enough to accept. And then there, was the annoying subject of a particular missing nin of Konoha, the legendary sennin, Orochimaru, himself. What was HE going to do? Surely he wouldn't give up that easily. It's all up to Sasuke, he should be strong enough overcome the lust for revenge. With Naruto it'll be just so much easier for him.' Kakashi'd train of thought was leading into memories of the past. Naruto's unique personality put up quite a show. Not only that but it rubbed off the Uchiha slightly. Their sensei was always lounging around with reading his book, but that didn't keep him from being observant with his students. Naruto had grown incredibly. Naruto had a huge reservoir of power that lay deep with him, and that power alone was his, not by the kyuubi. Naruto had potential that seemed even great enough to surpass his own. He was able to bring the kyuubi out without losing himself. Sasuke must soon learn to accept that Naruto will get stronger than he is, he must tear down that superiority complex. Naruto helped Sasuke with that problem, and slowly they came together with a friendly if not petty rivarly. It was all going well till Itachi showed up. The tiny speck of softness was erased from Sasuke by the encounter of his brother, then from then on that's where everything went wrong. Sasuke's superiority complex went sky-high, and along with the curse seal, everything got complicated by a great deal. Accompanied by Naruto's thirst for his acceptance and his own lust for power.'

Kakashi shook his head and let out a frustrated sigh. So many possibilities and outcomes. 'And then there was today. With Sakura at the hospital. I couldn't believe the way she acted. Not only did she run off, when he told her that Naruto was in the next few rooms, but she said that she had to meet someone. What a cold gesture. Sakura, Sakura, Sakura. She's definitely getting to be a problem for the team. Even after all that happened her universe STILL revolved around Sasuke. Girls now seemed to be more interested in love than becoming a good ninja. She would be a much better ninja if it weren't for her slight obsession. She still liked Sasuke (Kakashi doesn't know that she had confessed her love to Sasuke.) and cared only for him. I thought that the relationship between her and Naruto improved. Sigh…my first time getting a team of worthy genin and this is how it turns out? Damn…when everything is on the right track, there's always something there to wreck it, how could I forget that? Happiness doesn't last long, especially if you're a shinobi.

'Everything is barely kept in balance for now. Just by a few threads of what's left of a strong thick rope. Hopefully due to time that rope will be woven together, even stronger that before.'

The jounin ran his hand through his silver hair, more frustrated than before. 'At least Naruto brought him back. Thank god for Naruto.'

Then next day, sadly Kakashi thought about another overwhelming factor. 'Most of the genins came back in such a horrible condition, Naruto in the worst shape, but the first to recover. Just like him, probably due to his stubbornness that he recovered first, even with the kyuubi in him. They say that when he came back that he was dripping in blood, I wonder how he brought Sasuke there. I wished that I finished my mission sooner. (Kakashi was on a mission when the team returned.) The fight, they both must've given their all. And…Naruto won. How would Sasuke respond to that? Naruto had beaten him. More complications, but hopefully I can harness that into training. Pure training in Konoha, not drive him to Orochimaru again. I can't train Naruto now, it'll make it worse for him to be stronger, though at the rate he's going at right now, he's probably over the chunin level already. Sigh…Sasuke and Naruto…Those two have personalities that clash together like cat and mouse.'

SAKURA'S POV

"Shut up Ino-pig!!!" Sakura yelled at the pretty blond next to her. They were "surprisingly" on they're way to visit their beloved Sasuke-kun. And were as usual arguing over who would win his heart.

"Big forehead! Why would he choose you?"

"Just watch!"

"You should talk!"

"What does that mean?!"

"It means that Sasuke-kun is MINE!!!"

"HE'S MINE!"

"SHUT UP, BIG FOREHEAD SAKURA, HE'S MINE!"

"INO-PIG, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKINGABOUT! SASUKE-KUN IS MINE!!!"

And so on the day went till they reached the hospital.

'Ino-pig thinks that she can get Sasuke-kun, not over my DEAD BODY!' Inner Sakura thought.

'Damn, Ino-pig. When Sasuke-kun wakes up I bet that he'll like my daffodil better that Ino's common rose! Oh…Naruto's in there too…I guess that I'll pay him a visit too. Maybe I should get him a flower…later…we're already at the hospital anyway.' Outer Sakura thought.

A girl in red and a girl in purple stepped briskly down the corridor. They stopped next to an ANBU, who let them in. (Sasuke's guarded by two ANBU guards. One on the outside and one on the inside.) The ANBU guard in the inside stepped silently outside to let the girls have a moment with the hospital patient.

When they were alone Ino whispered quietly with a shudder, "Geez, those ANBU guys are sorta creepy."

Sakura agreed, "I know, I wish that they'd say something once in awhile. They're like living shadows." The two girls placed their flowers on each sides of Sasuke's bed.

"Poor Sasuke-kun. I wish that he'd wake up."

"I know…when do you think that he'll wake up, Sakura?"

"I don't know…The doctor said that he's in a coma right now…And there's no way in telling when he'll wake up."

Two pairs of eyes were cast to longingly at the boy in bed. "Who got him back? That Neji guy? Cause he looks really bad."

Sakura's green eyes glowed for a second, thankful that her blond teammate never took back his words. "No, Naruto did. Can you believe it?"

Ino's bright blue eyes widened. 'Holy shit! NARUTO beat Sasuke-kun? Damn, why didn't Shikamaru tell me?!'Ino thought. "Wha-Are you serious?"

"Yeah! I know, I can't believe that Naruto beat Sasuke-kun…maybe he had help with the team or something…I asked Shikamaru but he wouldn't give any details."

"Oh, yeah…they did have like five people, huh? Along with the smart ass Shikamaru and that genius Neji guy…no wonder…even if it is Sasuke-kun."

"Yeah…"

"Poor Sasuke-kun…please wake up." Ino whispered.

NARUTO'S POV

"Mmmm…" Naruto murmured sleepily while wrapped in soft warm sheets. 'Ugh…what time is it?'

"IT'S NINE? KUSO!" He jumped out of bed, and then cringed immediately. He was sorer than usual after training. "Oh…Itai…" Naruto moaned. He wasn't fully recovered and the normal training schedule that he kept to was doing him any good at this point.

He dragged himself to his small kitchen and put on a boiling kettle of water, and a cup of ramen. The blonde then slumped down in a chair and rubbed his eyes; he was still half-asleep and the drool still remained on his chin.

As he sat there, he would look quite adorable to some, eyes half closed, with his sun-kissed hair and sky-bitten blue eyes. Like a tiny kitten wrapped in sheets. The Uzumaki (they always say 'the Uchiha' so why not the Uzumaki?) poured the boiling water into the instant cup of ramen and waited. And waited impatiently for the three agonizing minutes to pass by. Then as a morning ritual he went to do his morning business and wandered back, and poked at his ramen. Happy that it was done, with a grin, Naruto began slurping down his breakfast.

'No use to hurry anyway…there aren't any missions…not for a while…sigh…these days are going to be bo0o0o0oorrrriiiinnnnnggggg. I should practice the Rasegan and see if I can get it on one hand.' At that he grinned to himself mischievously and thought about all the things that he could do, including beating Sasuke again and even impressing Sakura.'

His sudden foxy grin turned into a frown, as those were thoughts of the past. Now he knew that he could beat Sasuke(with a huge grin) and that no matter what he did, Sakura would never feel the same way about him the way he felt about her (the grin subsideded). 'Now what to do? Maybe I should go see Pervert-Sennin and ask him to train me.' That was always one thing that he hated though…he always had to go around asking people, it was great that most of them accepted now, but HE was always the one to ASK, the one to LOOK FOR THEM. And that was what annoyed him now. No one came to ask him.

Finishing the last of his ramen with a slurp, Naruto sighed and threw that empty ramen cup into the trashcan.

INO'S POV

The ANBU guard walked in. I guess that its time to go. Sakura got up, proving my theory correct. I followed her out of the room. I sneaked a glance at the ANBU guards. Silent as ever. They still gave me the creeps slightly. They were human shadows that hid in every corner. The pale blonde gave another shiver. They didn't really scare her, it was just that they didn't seem human. So quiet, intimidating. 'I can only hope to become an ANBU member,' Ino thought to herself. 'Yet Shikamaru's already a chuunin. I didn't even make it through the preliminaries.'

With that pale blue eyes looked and observed the girl next to her. 'She got so much stronger, even tied with me. I must train and get stronger as well. I will surpass you, Sakura.' Ino relived the memories of the past chuunin exam bitterly then asked, "Sakura, why are we stopping here?"

Her pink-haired friend has stopped a few doors down and opened the door slowly. "I'm going to visit Naruto, remember?"

"Oh yeah, ok then."

The two girls walked in. "Eh?" Sakura let out. "Where's Naruto? Kakashi-Sensei told me that he was in this room."

"Well there's an empty bed here. Maybe they moved him somewhere else. They do that sometimes."

"Oh. Yeah, you're probably right, Ino-chan. Let's go downstairs and ask for his room."

"Do we have to, Sakura?" 'After all I don't really know the loudmouth. All that I know was that he was the dead last at the academy and that he wants to be Hokage or something like that.'

"Well I should, he brought back, Sasuke-kun after all. He kept his promise to me. He's my teammate…" My best friend/rival retorted.

"Eh? What promise are you talking about, Sakura?"

"Well…You know…how I couldn't stop Sasuke-kun when he wanted to leave?" Sakura choked out, heartbroken, "And then I saw the team that the Hokage had sent to get them, Naruto was there, and he promised me that he'd bring Sasuke-Kun back….And well, he did…"

"Oh." 'Where the hell was I when all of this happening?'

"Um, Excuse me, but can you tell me the where the Naruto Uzumaki's room is?"

The nurse at the counter gave a nod and then started looking through a list, then plainly looked up in confusion. "Uzumaki?"

The two girls nodded. The nurse looked back to her list, reconfirming that there was no mistake. With a frown she said, "I'm sorry but Naruto Uzumaki left the hospital yesterday according to my records."

"What? Are you sure?" Sakura asked shocked.

"Yes, I'm sure, Miss. This Uzumaki person was released yesterday."

"Oh, um, thank you."

"Ino, I didn't know that he was released yesterday! How could I not see him when he was released? I was probably with Sasuke-kun, but still…" The green-eyed girl trailed off.

"My god, Sakura, he's your teammate and you don't even know when he got out?"

"Shut up, Ino!" Sakura retorted, though admitted that her blond friend made a point there. "Still…"

**Author's Notes:**

Couldn't believe that I got 7 reviwers the next day! OwO so due to you guys, I'm updating only a few days later, instead of my original plan…to update every week. (I've already got about five chapters written out...)

Ghostninja85: Glad that you I got your interest and that you like the prologue.

Dargon Sheinto: Glad that you liked the story!

Stormguarde: yeah all my chapters are going to be about 7pages long. Lol, and as for Naruto…I can't say just yet, and right now I'm not much of a Sasuke fan either. Cause he's being so damn evil! Poor Naruto…(talking about manga)T3T

HikaruOfAroo: Thanks

Rygura: I think people's reaction to Naruto's return is the most important….so I'm pulling my hair out about that…all the people should have their own unique reactions and reasoning. Naruto of course also has his own feelings to the people that he left. And I also noticed that some fanfics here tend to overlook some things that I think are important about the characters, so I try to put in as much as possible. (thanks for noticing that) and well, Naruto isn't going to warm up so fast to those he once called "friends."

Rurikat: Thanks. Glad that you liked the beginning!


	3. CHAPTER THREE: Changes

Disclaimer: I AM NOT FIT TO OWN NARUTO   
CHAPTER THREE: Changes 

SAKURA'S POV

'That's weird…how come Naruto didn't come looking for me then? He usually comes looking for me after he's been released from the hospital…Maybe…he couldn't find me? But he always finds me…Well maybe just this time…how weird, maybe he got a bash on his head that didn't heal right…'

Ino interrupted my trail of thoughts, "Still what?"

"Well, usually when he's released he comes to me right away. So this time it's weird for me. I'm used to seeing him, when he's out from the hospital."

I looked at Ino, expecting a thoughtful look, but instead I got a sly grin. "Eh? What are you looking at me like that for, Ino?"

"You know…I think that you should be happy Sakura…since he didn't go to you straight away…then maybe he doesn't like you anymore!"

That struck me. "Hey, you think so?…I mean that could be it! But it's only been a week…could it have been that fast?"

"I thought that you hated him, Sakura-chan. What does it matter how long or short it took? Aren't you glad that it happened?"

I glanced at Ino uncertainly. "I don't HATE him, Ino. But it just doesn't sound like Naruto, I mean after all those years and now all of a sudden he just stops?" 'It really doesn't sound like Naruto to give up so easily.'

"Well, I don't know…It could happen though, doncha think?" Ino replied.

"Uh…Yeah I guess so. Let's look for him, cause I feel kinda bad that I didn't visit him all the time when he was in the hospital."

I didn't have to look to see the expression on Ino's face. A frown embellished her pretty features.

"You're looking for him alone, cause I don't know what to say to him."

KAKASHI'S POV

I found Sakura just in time when it looked like she was going to yell at the Yamanaka girl. I wonder what they were arguing about, and then didn't bother. It had to be Sasuke. At least I caught Naruto just a few minutes before. Who knew that he got out yesterday? He didn't come look for me to ask me about training him. Something's wrong with him. Well, he did just fight Sasuke not long ago…that has to be it.

"Oy! Sakura!" I called.

"Oh, Hi Kakashi-Sensei!" The genin called back, putting on an innocent smile. Always with those innocent smiles.

I walked up to the two girls and told Sakura that it was time for a little training session and Naruto was waiting.

I studied Sakura's expressions, she looked surprised and then slightly confused. Then her friend Ino sped off.

"Oh, ok Sensei. Hey, why didn't you tell me that Naruto got out of the hospital yesterday?"

No surprise that Sakura didn't know. "Well, plainly because I didn't know either, Sakura."

My student's eyes widened. "Really? You didn't know? Then when did he find you today?"

This was one more point that Naruto wasn't acting like himself. "He didn't find me, I FOUND HIM just a few minutes ago… he was heading in the direction of Ichiraku I think."

"Oh…well what are we going to do today, Kakahi-Sensei?"

"Well. You guys have another D-rank mission. You guys are going to help a Mrs. Kato dig up sweet potatoes. Apparently, there's a whole field of them." 'Whew…I remember doing that crap when I was a genin…wow that seems like such a long time ago…still, I'm glad that I don't have to do it anymore…though my A-rank missions are so time consuming sometimes.'

Sakura's face visibly fell as they reached the bridge where Naruto was waiting impatiently with his arms crossed against his chest.

NARUTO'S POV

'She's not even happy to see me. Look at her. The site of me annoys her. Oh, well either way, I have to act happy so they won't figure out that I'm planning anything.'

"Hi Sakura-Chan!"

"Hi Naruto," she gives me a plain statement of greeting. No enthusiasm or anything. Nothing. 'You think that she'd replied warmer after all we've been through together as a team, NOT TO MENTION THAT I KEPT HER DAMN PROMISE. Sigh…whatever I give up. I'll be rid of her soon anyway.'

"OK, now I'm going to show you guys where Mrs. Kato lives and then I'll have to leave, because I have a mission of my own to do. Now after the mission you guys got the day off, but tomorrow, same time, same place, we're going to train."

"Awww…why do we always have to get such boring missions? I wish that we'd get more C-rank missions…like that last one with the demon Zabuza guy…that was a cool mission." I whined. 'It IS true though. Digging up potatoes. How fun is that?'

"Naruto, you already know why that you have to do these D-rank missions. Don't make me explain them again." Kakashi-Sensei warned me. "Yeah, Naruto! You're so annoying." 'Normal routine. Me always whining. Kakashi warning me that I knew and being too lazy to repeat things to me. Sakura beating and yelling at me.

'Well this time its going to be different. This time its only going to be me and Sakura…I would've been so freaking happy if this happened a week ago.'

"It isn't that bad! We are genin after all." Sakura pitted against me again.

"But still, Sakura-Chan, don't you think that its so0o bo0o0orrriiinnngg?" I countered.

My ex-crush gave a sigh. "Yeah but…Oh forget it."

'Now that I think about it. It IS going to be weird with only me any Sakura. Usually with Sasuke there I wouldn't need to think about this. Sakura would be fawning over Sasuke and I wouldn't need to bother talking to any one of them. Except for arguing of course. Are we going to even talk? What the hell are we going to talk about?'

After a few minutes of silence with the three of us walking, Kakashi announced that we were at this Mrs. Kato person's house and knocked the door. It wasn't a very big house. It was about the same size as my apartment, considering that my apartment wasn't meant for only one occupant. Kakashi-Sensei knocked on the door and then a frail looking old woman answered the door. Ah, big surprise. She greeted us and then my teacher left.

"Ah, so you children are going to dig the potatoes for me?"

"Yes, Mrs. Kato." Sakura replied. 'I'll let her do the talking.'

The old woman showed up to the field, thankfully it looked like half of it was harvest already, otherwise it looks like it would've taken the whole day to pick all those damn potatoes.

"Now here's the field, try to pick up whatever's left over. When you want to take a break, or when you hungry you can just come on in and I'll prepare you a little snack, all right?"

"Ok, thank you." Sakura said sweetly.

Just when I looked at the woman to nod politely with a smile on my face, the woman cast me a cold glare. 'Freaking bitch…' I thought as I walked out into the field with Sakura. 'Glare at me when there's NOBODY to see! Yes, that's the way to it, old hag. Those cold glares are so freaking annoying.' Though deep down inside, it always did hurt a bit.

To my relief of conversation worries, Sakura and I started on opposite side of the field. I started digging up potatoes, rather stubborn potatoes…and then threw them into the basket that I was given roughly by the old hag. Basketfuls were filled and before I knew it, Sakura and I met in the middle of the field. Well somewhere in the middle, considering that was slightly putting my anger out into the damn potatoes and I had a stronger urge to finish this boring mission and covered more land.

"Done, Sakura-Chan?" I asked cheerfully.

"Yep! Finally." We both walked up dusty and dirty to the old hag's house. "Mrs. Kato, we've finished!"

The frail woman appeared. "Thank you, so much! I'm so old and can't do this work for very long. Oh, now here's your well earned pay." Through all this, it was quite clear to me that those kind words were directed to my pink-haired teammate. You can already know what word I'm thinking of that suits her.

"Thank you, Mrs. Kato." Sakura said politely as we headed out the door. 'I don't feel like being with Sakura-Chan right now. But I always asked her for a date, after a mission, so I shouldn't stop now, its not like she's ever going to say yes anyway.'

"So how 'bout a date, Sakura-chan?"

Naruto was slightly taken back at the absence of the immediate refusal. A second passed. "Well, I don't want to go on a date, Naruto…but um…I do want to thank you. For bringing Sasuke-Kun back and all. I'm glad that you kept your promise to me." She flashed me a tiny smile. 'EH!?!?! She had never smiled AT me before!'

SAKURA'S POV

"Thank you, Naruto." I said. I saw that by his bulging eyes that he was freaked out that I smiled at him. Which kinda made me feel bad and silly and angry at the same time. But then his shocked expression was replaced by a faint blush. 'Ino's wrong…Naruto still likes me.'

" O-Oh, No problem, Sakura-Chan! I never go back on my word! It's my ninja way!" He beamed, giving me a thumbs-up. 'Did Lee pick that up from him? Or did he pick that up from Lee? I never did figure that out.'

"Well, I gotta go home…Bye Naruto!"

"Bye, Sakura-Chan!" The two genins departed in opposite directions.

NARUTO'S POV

'W-Wow…Sakura actually thanked me for the first time…she even smiled at me. Weird…Man, what the hell are they looking at?!' It was late afternoon, and as usual there were people staring, more likely glaring at him. 'Damn all of you to hell, you bastards.'

Then Naruto's mind wandered back to the small incident with his teammate. 'That doesn't make a difference to me anymore. I barely beat Sasuke and now all this from the villagers…I HAVE TO LEAVE! DAMN TSUNADE-BABA! WHY DIDN'T SHE LET ME LEAVE?'

The blonde shook his head, yellow hair bristling in the process. 'I have to…Soon…But when?' His tumbling thoughts were clashing in his mind, while he unconsciously clenched his fist all the way home, leaving red marks where his nail bit into his palm. This inner turmoil was taking up a lot of his free time.

Half an hour later, after Naruto had taken a shower and was nice and clean, he headed toward the Ninja Academy.

It was late afternoon…so Iruka should be grading papers, thought Naruto. Thankfully, when the Uzumaki arrived there, his old academy teacher was there, grading papers with an unhappy look on his face.

"Are they that bad this year, Iruka-Sensei?" Though he was no longer his sensei, it felt right and stayed that way ever since.

The chuunin looked up, almost grateful that there was interruption. "Well, they certainly are like your results."

"Wow! That bad?"

Iruka gave an amused laugh. "No, not that bad. They just aren't doing as well as I expected. Well… these papers can wait at home. To the Ichiraku."

"Yep! Hurry up, Iruka-Sensei…you're so slo0o0owwww."

"Oy. Be more patient, Naruto! And it's only been five seconds!"

"So? That's five seconds of hunger pain!!! Hurry up!"

"Ok! Ok! I'm done, Naruto, but even better we're going by my house to drop these off."

"Awww…You LIKE seeing me in pain, doncha? Now COME ON!!!" I dragged him down the path toward my favorite food stand, Ichiraku. 'Ramen!' I chanted.

The two finally got there. "I'll have a pork ramen!" Naruto yelled at the chef; who in return gave a fond shaking of the head. "What are you getting, Iruka?"

"Hmm…I'll have a beef ramen, please."

"So Naruto, are you still sore?"

"Nah, I feel way better, Sensei. I think that I'm almost all the way healed right now! I'm not sore at all!" I replied happily, though as a fact, Naruto was still a bit sore.

"Well, glad to hear that."

"Man, I got such a boring mission today. I can't wait to be a chuunin!"

Iruka gave out another amused laugh that was reserved for Naruto. "Well the chuunin exam is about five months away, Naruto. And then I know, when you become a chuunin, then you'll be whining to me about how boring it is being a chuunin and then you'll want to be a jounin!"

Whiskered cheeks contracted as Naruto gave a smile. "Ah, well I guess that's true, but I still think that it's boring being a genin! You get C or B-rank missions…I get stupid D-rank missions…they suck. At least the Hokage can give me a C-rank mission that turns out to be a B-rank mission. You get all the fun, Iruka-Sensei!"

IRUKAS POV

Then Naruto gave a familiar pout. It's true that Naruto did that so called C-rank mission…that was a B-rank mission instead, from what Kakashi told me. With the demon Zabuza. 'You're getting so strong, Naruto.' Iruka stared fondly at Naruto with pride at his student's growth.

"Well, like I said SO many times before, you have to be PATIENT, Naruto. You always rush things. A ninja should learn to gain patience."

The loud blonde gave a snort, which immediately transformed into a gigantic grin. "Oh, quiet. Hey! Ramen's here!" Then with three acknowledging words of arrival, Naruto dug into his ramen bowl, with many more to come, Iruka knew.

Minutes passed by filled with silence except for the sounds of chewing, slurping and noodle and soup being inhaled.

'It never ceases to amaze me how much that boy can eat. He's so small too. How can he eat that much?' That was a question that had no answer.

"You know, one of these days I'm going to make you pay me back for all those bowls of ramen!"

Interrupted with that threatening statement, Naruto passed midway inhaling and looked up, ramen dripping from his mouth. "Whu-Wha?" The blonde said, bare comprehensible from the amounts of noodle occupying his mouth. He took a swallow and then babbled on, "Whu-Wait! I'll pay for my ramen this time, Iruka-Sensei!" The whiskered boy pleaded. "I will!!!"

With a smirk Iruka retorted, "You know that I'm kidding, Naruto."

The genin looked up to the chuunin, "Well…I'll pay for my ramen today, anyway."

"Naruto, you don't have to! I was just joking!"

"I know, Iruka-Sensei, but it's ok. I just got my pay today for my mission remember?"

I reluctantly agreed to the boy's proposition. "Ah…ok, Naruto…you know, maybe I should "treat" you on the days when you just finished a mission. I'll get richer by the day!"

"Hey! What does that mean?!"

"AH….nothing, Naruto. Nothing at all!" The blonde shot him an incredulous look. "I'm not stupid you know." Then pouted and stuck his tongue out in the most unfashionable way, then he sped away.

Iruka gave a sigh…then he realized…THAT HE WAS LEFT WITH THE BILL!!!! 'Damn, you, Naruto.' The chuunin thought darkly of being tricked and left with the bill. 'He might've paid himself that time!'

NARUTO'S POV

Naruto was snickering as he ran away from the ramen bar. "Gyahaha!!! Iruka-Sensei's left with the bill." A mischievous smile was plastered on his face as he raced home and passed the Konoha hospital on the way (let's just assume that it was on the way.)

In front of the hospital entrance Naruto came to an abrupt halt. A slight pang in his chest as he thought about who lay inside…friends…and…Sasuke. Anger flared up his senses at the Uchiha. "Damn him." Was all that the blue-eyed boy could mutter, his legs took him inside without his brain registering it. Before he knew it, he was in front of two ANBU that guarded Sasuke's door.

"There are already two girls inside, would you like to join them or wait?" One of the ANBU asked. 'Two girls? Must be Sakura…' He thought but who could be the other girl…oh that Sasuke idiot with the scary eyes….Ino.'

Naruto looked up into the emotionless mask, "I'll wait."

The guard nodded. "Alrite."

Naruto nodded, noting a slight coldness in the reply…waiting to get him out of their sight. The Uzumaki placed his azure irises onto the floor not wanting to pay any attention to the ANBU, or anything else for that matter, but chose somewhere down along the corridor to conceal him self or make him less visible for that matter.

Luckily after five minutes or so, the door opened and two down trodden girls came out, though they argued a half-heartily at each other. One was a pale blond and the other bore pink hair. Sakura and Ino. No surprise at all.

Naruto pressed himself against the wall trying to shrink himself; he didn't want to see the girls or let them see him…especially Sakura. The feminine chatter died down and Naruto went inside.

More blinding white met his eyes and he was drawn naturally to the dark figure that contrasted so much to the room. Naruto stepped to the side of the bed numbly and stared at the Uchiha. Hair askew and a mouth that didn't hold a usual scowl. Still unconscious. Despite all the bandages on him he had already caused, the blonde wanted to pound him even more just by looking at him. Betrayal scalded his skin and tore at his heart. He was shaking at the sight of him, it took all of his will power not to strangle him; yet at the same, he wanted to run away…to never see his face again. "You…bastard…"

He was fuming like a volcano ready to erupt and spew lava in every direction, but deep down inside he knew that his heart was broken. He became Sasuke's closet friend, but the only reason that he let that happen was to kill him. He wanted to kill him for power to avenge his family. Naruto had to be the sacrifice.

The blond was visible fuming now…his whisker marks deepened, but his eyes weren't red, nor were they the pure sky blue…and that made it all the more frightening. He eyes took on a darker shade on blue…a brewing storm that reflected the swirling thunderous thoughts inside his mind.

"What are you doing?" Came a stern voice. Naruto recognized as the ANBU guard earlier. He turned around. "I've done nothing." He replied just as icily and left the room, an intense aura of charka emitting from him. A month had almost passed by when Naruto had left the hospital. He planned it and decided to act upon it. He remembered that there was a brief training session later and decided to head there early and spend some time alone. Brooding in solitude, since it wasn't a familiar thing to the people that knew him.

Soon he saw a blob of pink bouncing to the bridge. 'Sakura.' He thought grimly. Betraying his thoughts and feelings, Naruto jumped up and down waving with a foolish grin on his face. "HI SAKURA-CHYAN!!!" He yelled.

His ex-crush winced and said quietly, "Hi, Naruto." He felt another piece shatter in his heart then pushed it into the back of his mind, forgetting about it temporarily. His eyes turned a normal shade of the peppy blue, even though the turmoil inside was torture. The Uzumaki became very skilled with hiding his true emotions, being able to conceal his eyes from revealing what lay inside. It was a very remarkable skill, also very hard. Not many genins could perfect something as well as that…except for maybe Sasuke who was about as emotional as a popsicle stick; stuck in ice and frozen to it's splintery core.

The peppy blue shade of his eyes shining with relief as he thought about leaving this place. It gave him butterflies in his stomach and pain that it might even mean giving up his life-long dream of being Hokage, but still the boy wanted some time along from the people of Konoha. Hell, he deserved it more than anyone in the world!

'Damn Tsunade-Baba,' he thought darkly again. He had asked for her permission to leave for a little while, but she had refused immediately, saying that he wasn't in the right condition and the possibility of another war of the Sound and Orochimaru. He had begged her for hours till she finally said that he could leave for month, but with Jiraiya with him. The Uzumaki, couldn't bear to have the pervert with him, it was destroying the whole point of going of alone, yet for only a month? He continued bugging her and pleading and whining, but to no avail, the female senin refused. So now he was going to take matters into his own hand and leave the village himself. That was the only way, he WOULD return, but it was just a matter of time.

Kakashi arrived and then the two genins completed their mission, to find 'Tiger' the cat that was always running away. Poor thing, Naruto felt sorry for it every time.

KAKASHI'S POV

'Hmmm, something seems to be up with Naruto today.' The silver-haired jounin was giving a quick observation over the blond…he seemed a bit jittery and nervous…also excited at the same time.

Wondering what was causing this subtle behavior, Kakashi asked in a lazy drawk, "Something wrong, Naruto?"

The blond looked up quickly with curious eyes, was that guilt? Before Kakashi could confirm the emotion as guilt, it vanished and was replaced with joy. "Hn? Whadoya mean, Kakashi-Sensei? Nothing's wrong! I just wanna get my free bowl of ramen at the Ichiraku Ramen stand today!" The boy blabbed excitedly.

'Of course,' Kakashi concluded knowingly, 'It had to e about ramen! But what about that emotion I spotted before? Maybe I was just mistaken…'

Naruto skipped happily away toward the ramen stand. "BYE SAKURA-CHAN!!! BYE KAKASHI-SENSEI!!!" He yelled cheerfully at us. "Bye Naruto!," I waved at him

SAKURA'S POV

Naruto skipped away and the Kakashi-Sensei disappeared as usual. But this time Sasuke wasn't there to follow.

The pink-haired girl was missing him this very moment and heading to the hospital at this moment. They let the visits go longer, since there wasn't any suspicious activity detected, but there were still two ANBU guards at the door. They were different every time though, but still silent and intimidating as ever.

Sakura stepped inside the familiar room where the Uchiha laid. She still couldn't believe how many bandages were strapped onto his body. It had been about a month since Naruto brought him back. Sasuke still did not wake. The Hokage said it could be months or even years. The green-eyed girl prayed that it would be months, she prayed every single day that he would wake, with her at his side.

Soon dusk came, and Sakura had to go home, her mother wouldn't be happy if she was out too late.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Author's Notes:**

**Wow, 19 reviews already. I love you guys! But one thing is that you guys have to tolerate my stupidity…and careless-ness. Yeah sorry about that, accidentally gave you guys chapter three also! Well, you got lucky..lol . **

Dalcacris: Of course I accept anonymous reviews!

chibified kitsunes: Glad that you like length chapters but due to my stupidity, there were two chapters in chapter2…so I'm correcting a mistake " sorry….hehe…I'll try update at the end of every week! And I'm ANTI-Sakura too, but since she one of the main characters then she should play a bigger role in here. And well there aren't any pairings in here, cause well if that happens there are usually some disagreements and blahblahblah..so no pairings. Except for ONE-sided pairings, like SasuSaku(which I hate...)

HikaruOfArrow: Spelled your name this time right, eh? LoL, I'm so sorry about that typo in Chapter 2!!! I could've swore that I changed it. . Sorry again. "

Cole-san: Thanks! and there's more to come.

RuByMoOn17: Thanks! And I'll try my best! .

Kerambit: Glad that you like my story!

The-TempesT: I'm also a fan of those authors. But basically I'm a huge fan of Naruto being the stronger ninja. I think that not only he deserves it, but he is! Too bad that you don't like the changing POV's, but that's the way I like to write…but the whole thing is mostly going to be through Naruto's point of view, so I guess you don't have to worry much.

Dargon Sheinto: Look forward to Friday then.

Rurikat: Yeah, poor Naruto…leaving Konoha  And you'll find out in the next chapter!

Tiffyki: You're pretty accurate for the most of it. Everything will be explained in the flashback that Naruto's going through right now.

Nonengel: Glad that you found it interesting. Keep reading if you continue to feel the same! :)

Clicke: Thanks! I want to see some action too, but it'll come in the later chapters, I noticed that in the other fanfics that they seemed to be so rushed and missing some minor details. I don't want to do the same thing. Sorry about these action-less chapters! "


	4. CHAPTER FOUR: The Beginning of an End

Diclaimer: I AM NOT FIT TO OWN NARUTO   
CHAPTER FOUR: The Beginning of an End 

NARUTO'S POV

Around the same time that Sakura went home, Naruto left the house and scouted the borders of Konoha from a distance. Even stranger, was that he was cloaked in black. Making it easier to slip away into the night, he even covered his sunshine hair with his head protector ninja band in a bandana-like fashion, so that it wouldn't give away. His stealth was getting better at least, though it wasn't that well, but none the less it was much better than before. There were guards scattered all along the border, and soon Naruto found out that they changed guards every four hours. The last they switched it was 10 o'clock that means the next switch would be at 2 o'clock. 'Perfect.' Naruto thought. Clad in black, he looked like a shadow edging its way along the trees. '2 o'clock is a perfect time to leave. Though he originally planned to leave at twelve, two more hours wouldn't matter…though the guards might let him through, since he was as they called the 'fox demon.' Naruto thought grimly to himself. 'Hey, maybe they would and there wouldn't be any trouble to get out. That might even be an upside,' the blonde thought to himself, though the thought of being let go so easily was a bit painful.

He slipped back silently through the night into his own apartment. He sat slouched on his bed and set his alarm clock to allow him an hour of sleep. Giving a gracious yawn, Naruto fell backwards onto the soft blankets and slept.

IRUKA'S POV

'This is so boring. I still have about 15 minutes. Fifteen minutes of complete torture. (Iruka was standing guard at the moment).

'You did absolutely nothing at all, yet when you're finished you're exhausted to the bone.' The chuunin was standing there idly waiting for two o'clock to come, watching the moon. Finally four agonizing hours passed by and Iruka met the next person's turn midway in the street.

NARUTO'S POV

Naruto watched silently as he watched his favorite companion walked away. The kistune-holder chewed his lower lip in frustration and guilt. He wanted to say goodbye so badly to Iruka-Sensei, but if he did, he knew that he wouldn't let him go.

After checking that the chuunin was out of sight he dashed for his life and stopped on the other side. Just outside of the gate, he touched the worn wood that marked Konoha, and whispered with a small smile, "I guess this is good-bye, Konoha. But don't worry I promise to come back."

With that he ran into the forest till he heard someone call at him. "Hey! You! What are you doing?"

"Crap," Naruto cursed at himself for taking too long to say goodbye and getting spotted. Before he knew it, he was slammed against a tree with a tall dark ninja standing over him.

"I-I…" Naruto stuttered…'WHAT THE HELL DO I DO?!' He screamed inside. Then he looked up to face the ninja.

The ninja, gasped and then gave him an icy glare. "It's you…The demon fox," he declared with another icy glare. "What are you, trying to leave? Well good, leave and never come back, you fiend!" The ninja sneered as he slammed the blonde into another tree and disappeared.

The blue-eyed blonde stood up shakily; a scar running deep in his soul. "Hah. I knew it. Of course they would let me leave. Hell, they WANT me gone!" He laughed sourly to himself.

And then suddenly he felt very afraid, no he felt terrified, he didn't know why but he suddenly did, like somehow his life was at stake. For unknown reasons… he just did…because when he looked at the gates of Konoha they suddenly looked like a prison's doors. A prison to hold him captive…just like the cage that held the kyuubi inside him. He felt afraid. He felt trapped. And then the Uzumaki snapped and ran deeper into the forest, unaware of where he was going, what he was doing or why he was there. He just ran to get farther away from those prison doors. Far as possible. He ran day and night for two days nonstop, till he didn't know what he was running for anymore and finally fell unconscious from exhaustion in the middle of nowhere.

There, a dark figure watched the strange figure that had intruded and collapsed in their territory, baring a pair of pale blue eyes, unlike his own that flashed different shades of blue as the moonlight hit it. The same pair that scowled at the bright blue sky on that cloudless day…

Days later he found that he was only wearing his T-shirt and pants. His black cloak, orange jacket, and his ninja head protector were in a neat pile next to him.

Little did he know that there was an incredibly thin net of chakra laid onto his being, so when he moved; it signaled the owner of that charka of his movement.

In a split second after he sat up, he heard a calm voice, "So you're finally awake."

End flashback

Naruto smile softly to himself; that was when it all began. In the one year that he had left, he had changed considerably and met many friends and no one particularly close; except for one, whom he trusted with his life. As every month crept by, Naruto kept telling himself that he would return, but the fact of that he was let go so easily made it harder for him, till finally a year passed and he finally decided that it was time to return.

His appearance had even changed in a sense that you could barely recognize him, what was one bright highlighter yellow was now a pale ivory golden hue of hair. His eyes stayed the same however; a fierce undying blue of determination, that was seemingly he and his friend's trademark, their contrasting blue eyes. He even experienced a growth spurt and grew a few inches taller. He also had two sharp canines in his mouth giving him a more fox like appearance.

He had also thrown away his orange attire and now wore under his cloak a netty shirt along with finger-less black gloves like Kakashi's. He wore black pants that were loose and allowed him to move freely with making a sound. Bandages covered his mid-calf to his ankles, touching his faded-out blue sandals. Naruto's headband was now worn across his neck, and undamaged since he still considered himself a leaf ninja, just on …vacation.

Now he stood of those very gates, and they looked like prison doors again. Naruto gave a shiver and tried to make his mind up. 'Well, you're here already, may as well go in.' When he was gone, he felt so free to do whatever he pleased. He loved it. But now looking on the doors he turned his back on them deep in his thoughts, he was caught by a guard and slammed into a tree again…talk about déjà vu.

"You again…" Naruto's eyes widened. He recognized that voice; it was the same voice that told him to leave. Now boiling with fury, Naruto sneered, "Nice to see you again." And then Naruto slammed the ninja into a tree…three times. "You bastard. Shut up and I won't do anything else."

The ninja yelled furiously, "What do you mean? I can kick your ass, you monster!" Now all that yelling was catching the other guards' attention and back-up was heading his way. "Damn." The kitsune holder cursed and knocked the ninja unconscious. Four ninja's appeard before him.

Four ninja's arrived. One of them shakily pointed at him, "You!" The Uzumaki rolled his eyes; obviously annoyed, what kind of greeting was that? It was getting tiring all that pointing and that one word 'you' and the occasional 'fox' added after it. 'People need to learn some manners these days.'

"Happy to see me?" The blonde taunted. All four attacked at the same time, and then in two seconds; four bodies fell with a dull thud. Unconscious, fortunately for them. Naruto wouldn't kill since they were leaf ninjas and his 'comrades', but still they were pissing him off like hell. One more thing that changed drastically in Naruto was the huge power that he possessed. Learning to harness some of kyuubi's power was very useful. Standing in the middle of the bodies; the blonde turned into a raven in a blink of an eye and flew over the gates.

TSUANDE'S POV(Continuing from chap. 1 first paragraph.)

The senin let out another sigh. 'Its already been a year…get over it, Tsuande. He'll come back when he wants to.' She thought to herself, but she was worried sick over that boy, wondering is he was still even alive! With her hand clasped on her forehead, Tsuande whispered, "Naruto, you better come back soon. Konoha needs you."

In midair, a crow sneezed.

Then looking at the enormous pile of papers that accumulated by the minute, the Hokage grabbed the papers and began to scan wearily through the never ending reports and information. Just at that moment a bird flew in and landed right in front of her…with a pair of ocean blue eyes…OCEAN BLUE EYES?

Tsuande's eye flew open. Then there was a tiny burst of chakra and there was smoke in her face. She recognized that chakra. "Na-NARUTO?"

As the smoke was clearing, she saw a figure standing in front of her, with a spiky head, though much taller than she remembered. A sneering voice wafted through the thinning smoke.

"Hah. Miss me, old hag?" The smoke cleared and the senin's eyes widened even more, then she rushed from behind her desk to Naruto and gave him a bone crushing hug, literally.

"NARUTO! YOU IDIOT! YOU'RE FINALLY BACK!" Crack.

"Owww…Tsuande-Baba…you're hurting me."

Tsuande immediately let go of him, blushing slightly, embarrassed with a quick recover of joy and shock.

Naruto answered with a sheepish grin. "Hehe…Missed you too. Told you that I would come back. But I didn't know that you would miss me that much."

Tsuande ignored the last comment and then stepped away from the blond to get a good look at him. "Wow, you grew taller, kid. And your hair! It doesn't even hurt my eyes anymore!"

Naruto gave a pout at the last comment. "Yeah, yeah old hag, but you should talk. You look like hell."

"WHAT?! YOU LITTLE BRAT! I'LL SHOW YOU WHO LOOKS LIKE HELL!!!" Tsuande brandished her almighty finger to flick Naruto. And to her great surprise he dodged and then caught it. "Aren't cha gonna say pull my finger first as a warning? " The short blonde teased. The Hokage's eye doubled in size once again and then came to her sense's while pulling back her finger roughly. 'How did he get so strong?'A/N: Remember he caught her FINGER not FIST…only her almighty finger…plus she was only fooling around…so that adds to the fact that Naruto was able to catch her finger.

"Naruto…Where have you been all this time? What have you been doing?"

The small blue-eyed blonde took a few seconds to reply. "Well, ah…I've been all over. The sand, cloud, stone, mist and some small non-ninja villages, you know, all over the place. I never stayed in one place for very long and I spent most of my time training…Pretty much."

Tsuande was shocked again. Again. Only the infamous Uzumaki Naruto was capable of shocking her so many times in a day. 'Those are so many places to visit in one year. But how did he get to all of those places…?' Tsuande asked herself.

"Wow. You sure got around nicely, kid. But how did you get to all those places?" Tsunade was amused by the quick reactions by her statement and question. First he burst with pride and then blushed.

"Well, ah I had help with a friend. We traveled together and well…she knew where everything was and everything."

Tsunade cocked an eyebrow and then smirked. "She?" Naruto blushed a bit more. "Yeah she's a SHE and we DIDN'T DO ANYTHING YOU PERVERT!"

The Hokage laughed, as if talking to an old close friend, "I'm just joking, Naruto, but if you reacted so quickly then there MUST be 'something' going on? Is there, kid?"

Suddenly Naruto's face fell, or that's what it looked like to Tsuande, since it happened quicker than a blink of an eye. "No, you old hag. We didn't do anything. We're a just friend that's all. And before you ask, her name's Nanashi, alright? Now stop interrogating me, old hag." Naruto finished stubbornly.

"Well I got to know, Naruto. You're considered a missing-nin. How many other people did you meet while you were gone?"

"Meh…a few here and there. I met a few in each village. I'll tell you later."

Tsunade's eyebrow twitched at how little detail there was, but decided to let it go, since there was a more pressing matter that she was itching to ask. "Why, did you leave, Naruto? I know that I refused to let you go. But did you really have to leave like that? No one knew and people were affected by this, Naruto. Did you even think about what effect that would have on people?"

Naruto cocked his head sideways like a fox curiously. "What do you mean, by that people were affected? You can't tell me that they actually MISSED me!" Naruto laughed.

'So that was the boy's problem,' Tsuande figured, 'He thought that no one here wanted him.'

"Well I have to say some people did. People were shocked once they found out that you left. Especially your old team 7, they were the ones that were affected the most."

Naruto shot her an incredulous look. "Ok, I might. MIGHT. Understand, SAKURA…but SASUKE?"

"You know, from what, Kakashi tells me, he was affected the most. After all, isn't he your closet friend, Naruto?"

The Uzumaki's face, became stern and hard as stone. "No. He isn't. Not at all." He replied in a slow monotone way.

'What?' Tsunade was in a world of confusion. "I thought that you'd be happy to hear that the Uchiha missed you.

"Well, it might have a year and two months ago…but not anymore. But I still don't believe you. Uchiha isn't human."

"Well, if you don't believe me then go see for yourself."

NARUTO'S POV

'!!! Kami-Sama, I don't want to see them yet! What is that woman thinking?'

"Nah, not yet, Tsunade-Baba. I don't feel like seeing them so soon. But since I'm here, am I still…a missing nin…?"

"I can fix that. Say…where did you go the first day you left?"

"Umm…I think that I was somewhere near the Stone. About fifteen or twenty miles off but I was close." Naruto stated like it was nothing.

"On you FIRST day?"

'Oh, yeah. I ran two nights without stopping, without even knowing what the hell I was doing.' He thought sarcastically to himself. "Well technically…I was still moving…I uh…I traveled for three days and two nights nonstop.

I saw Tsuande-Baba's widen for the fifth time since I announced my presence. 'She's so easily shocked!'

"Well…ah I see. What are you going to do now, Naruto?"

"Did anyone trash my apartment?"

"Like I would let that happen."

"Haha. Yeah, right. But I guess I'll see my apartment first and put down my bag and stuff. And then…I'll take a look around."

"Alright then Naruto, you know that the chuunin exam's coming up."

"Geez, old hag. I'm not that stupid! I came back to take the test!"

"Ah, Shut up brat!"

I headed toward the door till I thought about something. 'What about Sasuke and Sakura?' "Hey, Tsuande-Baba! Sakura and Sasuke are chuunins now, huh?"

The Hokage blinked for a few seconds then answered, "No, they didn't take it last year, but their going to take this one from what Kakashi has told me. Oh, and by the way, I had to give them a new teammate, just so you know."

"Eh? Then how am I going to take the stupid test?! I don't have a team!"

"Just shut up for a second, lemme look at the teams…oh well, you got two choices you can go into…Asuma's team that is composed of Chouji, Ino and Shikamaru…who is not a chuunin..so that leaves only those two. Or…I can move the new teammate into their team and you can go back to your old team again."

'Right, now at this stage I really don't care…I don't really feel like facing team 7 anytime soon, but I DO want to see if what Tsunde-Baba said was true…' Naruto contemplated. "Well, it doesn't matter. You can choose for me. I don't care."

KAKASHI'S POV

"Alright, you guys got the rest of the day off." I left the team to take a daily walk around the village while enjoying my favorite book. I have some time before I have to do the mission and gladly spent it reading.

Just when I rounded the first corner, an ANBU member approached me. "Hokage-Sama wishes to see you." The ANBU replied curtly.

'I wonder what she wants now. Another mission? I didn't even finish my last one yet! It better not be another mission…' Kakashi thought darkly to himself. He barely got any spare time in these few months.

"Hey, Asuma. What are you doing here?" The silver-haired jounin asked his fellow ninja right outside the Hokage's office. "I don't know, Hokage wanted to see me for something, why are you here?"

"Don't know."

TSUANDE'S POV

(Inside the office)

"Well, if you say so, Naruto. I've already sent two ANBU's for Kakashi and Asuma, so they'll be getting here in no time."

"Yeah, you guys figure it out. I think that I'll go 'sightseeing' and get reintroduced with the streets of Konoha. I'll remember come back tomorrow for the results, Tsuande-Baba." Naruto said, waving a piece of paper as proof that he had an appointment with the Hokage, herself tomorrow. Tsuande gave one last look at Naruto, pale sunshine hair, an air of confidence, the silent way that he held himself, and his eyes that were a fierce, undying blue…filled with secrets deep as the ocean. He wasn't as loud, since her eardrums were still intact. His super-human hyper ness was at an absence and he seemed more serious. He really had changed.

In a poof of smoke, a raven took Naruto's place and flew out the window.

Tsunde waited ten minutes for the smoke to clear pondering about the changes in Naruto. 'How could all that happen in a year?' Then it hit the female senin like a ton of bricks…Naruto had **_grown up_**.

She finally called in the jounins. "Now, I have some important news. Though it concerns you more, Kakashi. It has to do with a certain student of yours. And this time it isn't Sasuke."

The copy-ninja's one visible eye showed some interest. "Sakura? Nothing's happened has it?…"

"No, I am talking about the one and only, Uzumaki Naruto." The Hokage announced with a hint of a smile, observing the one visible eye that Kakashi shone; which widened considerably.

"Na-Naruto?! You mean that he returned? When? Where is he right now?"

The senin gave an amused look, enjoying that the sharingan bearer was flustered for once, instead of emitting that lazy drawl. "You didn't let me finish, Kakashi. And don't you wonder why Asuma is here also?"

Kakashi straightened, visibly embarrassed for his small outburst and then replied coolly, "Yes, Hokage-Sama."

"Well, I called you two here on a matter that the chuunin exam is coming up…and there is a matter of teams that needs to be straightened out. Since Naruto has returned to take the chuunin test, he needs a team. And there are two choices, he can either be placed back with you, Kakashi or Asuma. Asuma, either way you get a new student, since the Nara boy has advanced to the chuunin level."

There was a moment of contemplative silence in the room, till Kakashi's voice reached out. "What does Naruto think?"

"He simply said that it was for us to decide. So you and Asuma should discuss this. But personally I think that Naruto should go with you, Asuma."

Kakashi turned to his right, "What do you think, Asuma?"

Asuma gave a shrug, "Doesn't make any difference to me. I get a new brat either way. Your choice." The cigarette smoker stated simply.

After five seconds Kakashi gave a sigh. "I'd rather have Naruto back in the team…but we had worked on the team through out the whole year. It would put both teams at a disadvantage if Naruto was placed back into my team…so I think that it would be best for Naruto to go with you also, Asuma."

**Author's Notes**

**I'm so sorry for the mistakes in the chapters o.o didn't realized that I had so many...…I'm going to correct them later and thanks for the reviews! I love you ppl T3T…sorry about the late update..i know that I said Friday…forgive me….**

Narutofreak22: Thanks! And wait till next Friday! : Hope that this will give you your energy back.

Nonengel: Hmmm…I never read 'Queen of the Damned' before. Is it a good novel?

Night-Owl123: I'm glad that you like the story and wait for next Friday!

Unit Fox-Hound: Lol. Glad that this has caught your interest. Don't worry, this story still has a long way to go.

MC-88: Thank you!

ghostninja85: Thanks, and the reason is revealed! And I'm going to try to make all the character's reactions as realistic as I can.

tagged: Thank you! And sorry to keep you waiting. :

rosemary faerie: very perceptive! thanks for pointing that out. I'll try to modify things like that in the future. (I should pay more attention to that….)

clicke: Sorry about that typo. " I reread my own things and miss some stuff, being human and all.

moonlight2: thanks! ;) and I didn't realize that he was angsting..o.0


	5. CHAPTER FIVE: Getting reacquainted

Disclaimer: Do I look like Kishimoto-sama to you? CHAPTER FIVE: Getting reacquainted 

NARUTO

Due to his mischievous and curious nature, Naruto, disguised as a raven, perched on the roof and listened into the previous conversation. 'Well, I can't believe it. That pervert actually missed me. The old hag was right. A small sphere of warmth bubbled up his chest. The fact that he was actually missed affected him greatly. He was wanted.

At least he didn't put me in with the old team again. Wonder how they'd react…well at least I get to see Chouji again…I don't really know that Ino girl though. If I remember right then she's a Sasuke idiot…just what I needed, another Sasuke fangirl.'

With blue beady eyes, the raven waited for his ex-sensei to exit the building and followed from midair. Luckily the jounin lead him to his former teammates. Whom all were continuing the same conversation about him, which caused the raven to sneeze the entire way to the old bridge that they met at. Thankfully Kakashi had too much on his mind to notice the strange sight of a sneezing crow.

Though shivering with rage, Naruto managed landing gracefully on a branch (that took weeks of practice) he observed his past teammates, to see that Sakura was looking very guilty and a bit sad at the same time. To his shock, he saw that Sasuke mirrored the guilt, if not more. 'WHAT THE HELL? Sasuke's showing EMOTION OTHER THAN ANGER AND HATE?! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED WHILE I WAS GONE?'

Then he heard his name in the conversation they were sharing that started something like; "Naruto was gone before we knew it."

Intrigued he leaned in closer. 'What's this?' Though he felt slightly irritated since he was right there, plainly listening to their conversation.

"Yo!" Kakashi called. 'WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING? The old hag told him specifically not to tell them that I was here! HE BETTER NOT! OR I'M GOING TO PECK HIS DAMN EYES OUT!' The thought of people banging on his apartment door so soon wasn't exactly pleasant to him.

The jounin continued, "I just heard that the chuunin exam will have something special coming up. So 'prepare' yourself, alright?"

Naruto noticed that Sasuke questioningly glanced up in thought, catching the hint of looking underneath the underneath. Sakura on the other hand, took no note on the way the word 'prepare' was said and asked, "Can't you tell us, Sensei?"

"Of course I can't. It's forbidden to tell you! It wouldn't be fair if my students got an 'advantage' would it?"

"Aw, but we didn't even take it last year!" The new guy whined.

The eavesdropping blue-eyed raven cocked his head in thought. 'They didn't take it last year? Wonder why…maybe team work!' Naruto joked to himself, it couldn't be team work! They had never worked on it when he was in the team…then again maybe they might have this time, with a new teammate. How convenient. 'I get to miss out on this. If it weren't for the damn chuunin exam I would get the hell outta here and visit Nanashi.' Naruto's hatred over them wasn't over, but he reminded himself to be reasonable…and they even looked like they missed him. Sakura seemed to be a bit quieter and Sasuke somehow showed more emotion yet managed to get even colder at the same time. He softened the grudge at Sakura a bit, but as a deep as an emotional scar can run, Naruto still burned whenever the black-haired boy met his sight.

"Is it something…big?" Sasuke asked carefully.

"Well, like I said just prepare, because I gave you a warning." Then Kakashi disappeared for the second time that day.

"What do you think it is?" The new guy asked.

"I don't know, Tohru." Sakura replied, obviously stumped.

"Well…from the way he said it…it sounded like he was…hinting at something important. And it sounded like it didn't have anything to do with the chuunin exam." Sasuke worded carefully. 'Damn, him. Sharp as ever. The keen bastard.' Naruto thought.

"Really? You think so, Sasuke?" Tohru asked.

"Yeah…"

"But what would it be, Sasuke-kun? If it doesn't have anything to do with the exam…" Sakura joined in. Though in doubt, she knew that Sasuke's instincts were usually right and trusted him. Hell, she never even doubted him once!

'Kami-Sama, they'll never figure out that it's me!' Naruto thought, he was thankful…but on the other hand, he had a small urge to expose himself. He would like to see the look on their faces.

"I don't know. I'm going home. I might hear something later." The Uchiha exited the bridge.

"Sasuke-kuun!!! Wait for me!!! See you tomorrow, Tohru!" Sakura's shrill voice pierced the air. The raven gave a huge squawk at the shrill sound that sounded suspiciously like, 'damn.' 'Kami-Sama! I don't remember her voice like that! At least not that high-pitched…ah god…my ear drums!'

TOHRU

I winced at the loud volume of Sakura's voice. 'I sure feel sorry for Sasuke having to deal with that all day.'

Tohru wasn't close to Sasuke or Sakura, but as a teammate, he thought that the Uchiha was useful and Sakura well…His first impression was that she was useless, she still kinda is…and he thought that her behavior toward Sasuke was sickening. But thankfully he had gotten used to it, it was all routine now.

"Bah…" I muttered as I got up and looked into the trees, where I heard a crow. The first thing that I noticed was that…it was pretty big for a crow, definitely bigger than normal anyway. 'Geez…its staring straight at me. And it has blue eyes! I've never seen a crow with blue eyes…Ah stop it! It's just a crow. There are a lot of birds around here.' Tohru corrected himself, thought he knew that there was something special about that crow. He walked across the bridge, taking a look back to see that the raven was watching

his every move.

NARUTO

'I wonder if he figured out something was wrong…probably not from the way he looked at me.' The large raven flew off; cawing in what was a laugh at the look that the new guy gave him. 'He looked like I was ganna eat him or something!'

'Wow…pretty much nothing has changed here. Nothing at all…It was just like I left it.' Then he glided above the Ichiraku. 'Hey, it's been a year! Should I….?' Naruto wondered and then heard his stomach growl. He hadn't had ramen for ages, and surprisingly it wasn't his only favorite food anymore. He landed in a small alley and quickly performed another henge. A minute later a tall, brunette man of around 25 walked the alley,

"Hey, I'd like a large miso ramen please." Naruto said in his new low voice. The chef nodded and then told him that it'd be 5.99(no idea how much a bowl of ramen will cost).

"Ah, yeah. Thanks." Naruto muttered as the hot entrée arrived. He took a good whiff of the familiar smell before digging in. 'Wow, it feels kinda weird being back here, everything's familiar to me, but its all like a blurry memory and I don't fit in it…'

SASUKE

'What can he be talking about? Prepare for what?' Sasuke's infamous brooding look was on, except this time he was brooding on something totally different than another way to kill his brother. (He brooded less and less about that at least.) 'Kami-Sama, I wish that she'd shut up for a second. It's hard to think with her babbling on and on.' As you can guess, Sakura was trailing after him, babbling about a date. "-Or we could go to Ichiraku! You know…"

'Damn her using Ichiraku just to get me to go with her! Just cause Naruto left!' The Uchiha gritted his teeth for a second and then agreed grudgingly. "Alright, fine. But I need to do some things."

The pink-haired ninja practically bounced the whole way there, even humming. It annoyed the hell out of Sasuke. When they got there, they found a stranger sitting in the exact same spot that the blonde had sat a year ago, event the way he sat hunched over his ramen reminded the two ninja's of their past teammate. 'Bah! Nothing but a coincidence!' though Sasuke. There was no use in getting your hopes up since you'll usually be let down.

The two genins (three, but who knew that Naruto was there?) sat on the front counter. The chef recognized them immediately as frequent customers. "Ah…the usual?"

"Yeah."

"Thank you!"

In the corner of his eye, he spotted the stranger spare a glance in their way and almost chock on his ramen. The Uchiha cocked an eyebrow…'the hell's wrong with him?'

NARUTO

'Holy shit! Sasuke and Sakura are here! What the?…They have a USUAL? I never knew that they liked ramen! Hell, I never knew that they knew this stand EXISTED! Man, talk about not knowing your teammates…and they're here TOGETHER! Well, I guess that they were bound to get together sometime. Can't believe that Sasuke actually gave in! Man, just when I leave all this stuff happens. I must've missed out on a lot of stuff in the past year…Wonder what else happened. Chouji skinny?!'

The handsome brunette (Naruto) shifted in his seat uncomfortably, almost forgetting that he was in henge for a minute. He ate his ramen at a slower rate, more normal anyhow, thankful that there was only a little left. It kind of hurt that his two teammates got along so much better without him in their WAY. Now he was even more thankful that he was placed with Asuma, if he was placed back with Kakashi, he would get in their way again, thought the Uzumaki. Finishing the last of his ramen, he strode away quickly to get away from the two beings that he placed his trust in…now long gone. You might say that his friend, Nanashi had rubbed of him a bit. He didn't trust as easily as he did before, it was either, he trusted them or not, surprisingly, he was a very perceptive person.

He walked onto the streets of Konoha, drinking in the familiar sights. Passing the hospital he had visited so often that it was almost his second home. He headed back to his apartment subconsciously, the map imprinted in his head.

Arriving at his apartment, he found that it was exactly the way he left it, except for the thin layer of dust that coated everything. He gave a smile at the lifestyle that he once had, shaking his head at his cluttering rooms. He squatted down and began cleaning up.

An hour later, it wasn't as clean as in sparkling, but neat and lived in. He looking inside the cabinets, knowing that there was an endless supply of instant ramen waiting for him, and decided to go out and buy the appropriate groceries.

Just as he walked out, he was slammed against the wall. 'DAMN, WHY THE HELL IS EVERYONE SLAMMING ME INTO THINGS?!?! Some welcome party…'

The attacker asked in a stern voice, "Who are you and what were you doing in there?!Naruto, officially pissed (still in henge) didn't even look at his attacker and then switched places with him and slammed him into the wall by the neck. "Listen, you! What the hell do you think you're do….-Ka…Kakashi?" By the time he saw his attackers face, or more appropriately, his mask, Naruto comprehended a slanted hitai-ate leaf head, revealed a lazily droop eye and silver hair. Naruto let him go.

The jounin's eye twitched in suspicion. "Who are you?"

KAKASHI

He was on his way to check Naruto's apartment to make sure that no one trashed it, (It was his given job now, though didn't bother to clean anything) to find a ninja of around his age waltz out looking into his wallet. Assuming that the man had stolen from Naruto, well, you know what happens from there.

It didn't help his anger that he was slammed back into the tree by the 'thieving' stranger, till he suddenly stuttered his name in recognition and let him go. 'What the? Who the hell is he?'

The man, looked at him up and down. "You haven't changed a bit Kakashi. Still reading that perverted book?" The man said?

"Who ARE you?" Kakashi repeated for the second time irritated, though he had to admit something was wrong with the guy…he reminded him of someone.

The brunette bended down to pick up the wallet he had dropped (while being slammed into something again. (Poor Naruto . XD). "Why Kakashi-SENSEI, I'm surprised that you didn't recognize me."

'It took me a moment. Could it be…?' Kakashi thought, daring to hope. Using his sharingan…indeed he realized that it was henge.

"Na-Naruto?! Naruto is that you?!"

The brunette nodded, "Yeah missed you too. Well since you're here, come in. I'll go grocery shopping later."

Kakashi stepped in dumbfounded. 'Naruto…' He watched dumbly as the brunette closed the door shut the window blinds and did a hand seal; shrunk a foot, grow blonde and gain blue eyes. His student gave a small smile. "What can I say?"

"Naruto! I heard that you were back but-"

"Yeah, I'm here and all. The one and only." The blonde replied rudely and then continued on in totally different tone. "I'm glad that you guys are doing so well. Also thanks for keeping my presence from Sasuke and Sakura." Naruto said.

Kakashi's invisible eyebrow lifted about an inch. 'What a different vocabulary from the blonde. My presence? Such sophisticated words, that he never even HEARD of a year ago. And from the scene earlier,(Naruto getting to slam HIM in the wall.) Naruto had grown incredibly in power! I wonder how strong he is now, with his great he have surpassed me already?'

"Wow, you grew Naruto. I'd say that you're even as tall as Sasuke…but with that hair, you're taller by half an inch." 'Not only physically though.' Kakashi thought.

The Uzumaki smirked. "Ha, it'd nice to look down at Sasuke for once."

Then something dawned upon the silver-haired jounin. "Naruto…how did you know that I didn't tell Sasuke and Sakura that you were here?" Taking a familiar tone that the blonde was all too familiar with. In fact, it was mostly Iruka that gave him that tone.

"Well…uh…Cause the old hag told you not to, you know? I just assumed that you didn't tell them!" Kakashi's answer was a stern stare.

"Geez, why are you even asking? You probably figured it out already, that I followed you!"

"Then why didn't I feel you're presence? You haven't gotten that good, have you?"

The blonde gave a mischievous grin and replied smugly, "I have my ways." Killing the cool answer he gave, Naruto sneezed three times in a row. Rubbing his poor abused nose in attempt to sooth it Naruto said more to himself that to Kakashi, "Damn people don't think to hold back on gossip, don't they? Been sneezing ever since I got here!"

Giving a small laugh at his student's words, he thought about how much he missed the crazy blonde's presence. Then as the memories passed, he jumped to a new subject immediately and bombarded Naruto with questions. "Why do you want to stay a secret, Naruto? Everyone would be glad to know that you're back! And where have you been? What have you been doing all this time? And next you leave you have to tell us, you little dunce!"

The Uzumaki, apparently unfazed at the bombardment answered every question coolly. "1st of all, I don't people knocking on my door, asking me all these questions. AHEM I'll see them when I want to. 2nd of all what do you mean everyone would be glad? 3rd and 4th that's something I'll keep personally to myself. And 5th I'M NOT A DUNCE!"

CHOUJI

(The next day)

"Asuma Sensei's here, Ino." I told my blonde teammate, who was daydreaming the day away.

"Oh, finally." Asuma was running late today, though they didn't have to suffer any close to what Sasuke, Sakura and Tohru (And Naruto) had to.

"Hey, guys. As you know the chuunin exam's coming up and since Shikamaru's already a chuunin there's no possibility that he can retake it with you guys. So we're getting you guys are getting a new teammate."

Ino's eye's doubled in size. "Really? Who is it?!"

"What about the ShikaInoCho formation then?" I asked. We weren't good, but we had always relied on that. And it worked…sometimes."

My cigarette-smoking sensei looked at me thoughtfully, "Yeah, I had thought about that, but I think you guys should get new things other than your family traditions. Not to offend them or anything…but a ninja's skills should be broad, not limited to their clan's special jutsu's."

'I wonder who our new teammate is.' Chouji thought depressed slightly, most people teased and made fun of him cause of his size.

INO'S POV

'This is great! We're getting a new teammate! And I could get stronger!...Not to mention beat that forehead, Sakura. Maybe Sasuke will notice me as an individual, not as some stupid Sasuke-idiot as everybody else calls me…I don't even like him anymore!' Ino thought excited.

"That's great! What new jutsu's are we going to learn Asuma-Sensei?! And who's our new teammate?"

Asuma rolled his eyes fondly at his students, Ino now a bit on a power streak…not that it was bad for her. At least she wasn't focused on the Uchiha boy anymore.

Chouji was pretty much the same…except that he was slightly thinner than before, the danger of the Akimichi pills had pretty much sucked it out of him.

"I don't know who your new teammate is yet, however when he arrives he'll let us know." Asuma lied.

As a female, Ino couldn't help but wonder, 'Oh…I wonder if he's cute.'

ASUMA'S POV

'Hmm..this Naruto kid… he is the kyuubi holder. This could mean some difficulties…after ALL he did leave Konoha for a while. I wonder what capabilities he has.' Asuma pondered as an instructor for his students.

A minute later a figure approached them inside the training area, who wore a mask that was had beautiful designs on it, the dark red designs were on the left side of his mask and looked like they were spreading over the other side...that was completely white. 'Like night creeping in on day.'

The mask bearer had pale blond hair, and form the way he walked, looked a bit stiff and preoccupied with something. The figure came closer and waved at them, confirmed that it was, indeed, Naruto Uzumaki.

**O0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

**Author's Notes:**

**Muahahahahahaha! Lol well I assume that was a cliff hanger . too lazy to reply to all those reviews. (love you guys! ) and I changed the POV thin since everyone kept pointing out that I keep switching from 1st person and 3rd person, " sorry about that. Now I just changed it to their names so that you'll know that it has to do with that person: kinda like a change in scenery sort of thing. And once again, there will be no pairings! Sorry! Only one-sided pairings. (though I prefer strange pairings: NaruIno and SasuHina. I just can't write that stuff. Well, I won't try right now…) And forgive me for the chapter length, I'll try to make it longer from here. Wah! And I apologize for being human and missing my errors. p**

Rygura: well let's just say when the Pov's changes that's when she called the ANBU to get them. O.0

Keltosh: As much as I hate Sasuke right now…I won't kill him off. And the same thing goes to Sakura, though sometimes I can't help bashing just a LIL bit. I love NaruIno! But like I said, no pairings.

The-TempesT: Thanks for telling me that I had the signed review only thing on, didn't realize that I had it on. .


	6. CHAPTER SIX: Training

**Disclaimer: Do I look like Kishimoto-Sama to you?**

**CHAPTER SIX: Training**

NARUTO

The figure nodded as a greeting. "Hey, is this team 8?" I asked for authentic purposes. Of course I knew they were team 8, wow…Chouji did lose some weight. What is this world coming to?' The blonde mused to himself.

Asuma, his new Sensei nodded. "Yeah, you're the new student?"

I nodded again getting a glance at Chouji and the Ino girl. Both of them seemed to be sizing me up. Though it looked like Chouji recognized me for a minute…crap!

The blonde turned sideways, to conceal himself. "Well, we'll start with introductions then." Asuma started. "Ino?"

The blonde female nodded uncertainly, caught slightly of guard, "My name is Yamanaka Ino. Nice to meet you!" She added as an after thought.

"And I'm Akimichi Chouji."

Naruto, thankful that they were only introducing names replied, "I'm Danno Akihito. Nice to meet you guys." _'Nanashi never did tell me what me 'new' name meant. I think that I'll check it out later…'_ (calling him by his new name from now.)

"So Akihito, what are skills as a ninja? It'd be easier to work as a team for advantages." Asuma asked me. _'What the hell do I say?!!!!' And then he took the easy way out. _

"Uh…well I know some charka techniques…and I prefer ninjutsu and taijutsu to genjutsu."

Asuma raised an eyebrow. "Well. Ok, that's a start. How about you guys each have a sparring match against Ahikito and then I'll take it from there?"

_'Hmmm…this'll be probably boring. Seeing Ino at the preliminaries, she isn't that strong, especially if she tied with Sakura. And Chouji…I don't really know. Fighting against that sound guy is tricky but he didn't show me much. I wonder if he got any new jutsu's.'_

"Alright then! How about you spar with Chouji first, Akihito?"

I nodded, "Sure, no prob." (A/N: let's just say no one recognized his voice! . )

_'Damn, its no surprise, but didn't they do anything in the year that I left? I want to pound something, just from being here again…But hopefully, this team will be better…maybe a new start…in a way. Another chance.'_ Naruto thought to himself, trying to look at the bright side of things.

CHOUJI

_'Man, this guy seems like something else. I swear that I've seen him somewhere before. And he looks so strong…there's no way I could beat him. It's like fighting that freaky sound guy…but this time I can't use any of the pills…'_ Chouji's low self-esteem was getting the best of him.

The two 14 yr olds faced each other. Two old friends. Chouji did the first jutsu and yelled, "Baika no Jutsu!" (Multi-size Technique)

Instead of putting the jutsu oh his whole body, his two arms were enlarged. Then he charged forward, arms like lumbering trunks ready to strike.

Akihito, on the other hand didn't look at all shocked, but dodged at the last minute. (Naruto doesn't even need to dodge, but he wants a low profile. A/N: Naruto's so much stronger now because he's learned how to harness the Kyuubi's power, though he hasn't completely mastered it.) For the next five minutes, Chouji was on the offensive, and Akihito…well wasn't really on the defensive, he just kept dodging.

_'Damn, I can't even lay a finger on this guy. He dodged everything I throw at him! If only I could land just one hit, then it'd be so much easier! I guess I'll have to trick him.'_

Chouji made a clone, and pretended to rush at him like before, but before his plan worked, Akihito a dark blur (he was wearing a red shirt and blue pants, so dark that they were almost black), destroyed the clone using a explosive tag, then rushed in and punched him in the stomach. Then unbelievably Chouji collapsed, right then and there. The last words Chouji heard were whispered, "I know, you're stronger than this."

ASUMA

The cigarette smoking jounin's eyes widened, obviously shocked that Chouji could be knocked out with one hit, after all Chouji could take quite a few hits.

_'This Kyuubi boy, is already quite far from Ino's and Chouji's capabilities. This will be harder than I thought, damn, shoulda just asked for him to be put back with Kakashi, he knows how to deal with him better than I do.'_

"Hey, nice job, Akihito. That was quite a hit you did to Chouji."

The boy, didn't even say thank you, instead he cocked his head in a fox-like manner then walked up to me.

He started quietly almost in a whisper, "But..er..Asu--….sensei? I didn't even punch him."

The much taller male,blinked and then bent down. "Um…what?" he asked incredulously. The blonde looked up at him, a mischievous aura spreading. "Aren't you a jounin?! You're supposed to know this stuff!" (Naruto was snickering inside, at the dumbfounded ninja in front of him. Slightly proud for the move he did, yet killing himself for over doing it.)

Asume fumed a bit. "Ok, then what did you do, kid?"

"Pressure points. Check him, if you don't believe me."

_'This, kid…this is getting more complicated by the minute. Was that the kyuubi's charka for a second? Maybe that's how he did it.'_ Asuma walked over to the place where Chouji lay, with Ino hovering over him.

"Ino, let me check him."

Asuma, though in disbelief came to one conclusion, _'Kami-Sama, he wasn't kidding…'_

INO

The blonde kounichi(?) was even more worried over her teammate when Asuma took a serious face, while examining him. "Is he ok, Asuma Sensei?"

"Yeah, he's alright, he'll wake up in about an hour. By the way, you're next Ino." The last few words were barely audible, "Just be careful, Ino."

Ino looked over to the other blonde a bit afraid. _'He's so strong.'_

NARUTO

Unknown to those two, Akihito flinched at the last advice. His hearing was keen as a canine's would be. _'Great, I came here, to get a BETTER start. Not to scare them away. I've scared enough people, but I can't do the same to my teammates.'_

Ino came up and faced him; ready to spar. She looked determined and nervous at the same time. _'I wonder what she's going to do. She can't get me with the jutsu that she did to Sakura that's for sure. What else can she do?'_

INO

_'Man, this guy's so strong. What the hell can I do? I've been practicing my Shintenshin more but, how can I get him to stay still? From the way he punched Chouji, his physical strength is outstanding. Damn, why am I so weak?!'_

I charged at him. Taijutsu is my last resort. I aimed a high kick at him, and no surprise, he dodged. I continued with kicks and punches, getting tired out. _'So that must be how Chouji collapsed so easily. This guy is smart. He lets his opponents tire out, taking the defensive then hitting them with one powerful attack.'_ (Ino doesn't know about the pressure points.)

_'I've got to find an opening.'_ "Bunshin!" Five Ino's surrounded Akihito, each one wore a smirk. The Ino's took out kunai and shuriken. They fired in a sequence. First two Ino's on opposite sides threw their kunai. Then the other three opposing Ino did the same.

Making a formation around Akihito, two Ino jumped up right above him, and they all released their shuriken, with a burst of speed.

Akihito trapped, found that instead of five shuriken flying at him, ten were headed his way, Ino had used Kage Shuriken no jutsu. _'HAH! Gotcha!'_

NARUTO

_'Hmmm…I could go for catching all of them…but that isn't a good idea. Something simple will have to do.'_ Akihito pondered; as much as he wanted to show off, it wasn't best for right now.

"Doton! Shinjuu Zanshu no jutsu!" (Earth type. Inner Decapitation Skill) Akihito yelled and did the hand seals, a bit awkwardly. He didn't need to do say of do the hand seals at all, but to disguise yourself as an upper level genin was getting to become harder than he thought.

_'This is too easy. Have I gotten that strong? Or it is her?'_ Akihito thought; underground.

Ino's face was portrayed in confusion and shock, when her target, vanished out of thin air. "What?!"

All the shuriken cut into the ground with a series of sharp chings. The blonde kunoichi landed and her clones disappeared. Ino stood there, apparently confused.

_'Hmmm…she's only right above me. Should I actually pull her down? Nah…too troublesome.'_ He froze for a minute at his phrase. _'Shikamaru…'_

In the next second, Ino swiveled around to find the entrancing mask in front of her face. _'Kami-sama…her reactions are so slow.' _The Yamanaka made a move to punch him, faltering for about a second, then he placed a kunai thrown at him against her neck.

_'This was TOO EASY.'_ He thought again, mentally shaking his head in disappointment. _'Am I even going to learn anything here? Asuma better have some high techniques; I don't want to have to bug Jiraiya again, the damn pervert.'_

"Alright! That's enough, Akihito! I already see that you're a high level genin." Asuma said.

_'Well, looks he's still suspicious of my power…I wonder…if how far I could get if I fought Asuma…'_ He was dazing off, as Asuma told the two of them to meet again tomorrow in the same place, but an hour early; at 8 o'clock sharp.

"And if you're late, then you will run ten miles through Konoha. Don't be late. Got it guys?"

"What?! Why sensei?!?!" Ino exclaimed.

"Because we're going to have do to a lot of work, the chuunin's exam's closing in. And with a new teammate, you guys need to work double-time. Now right now you guys get a chance to know each other. I'm going take Chouji home."

INO

_'What THE HELL? Asuma-sensei never did that before. And this new guy…Akihito…he's so strong. How can he be so strong? I couldn't even put a scratch on him, even when I had him trapped, he disappeared. How…How is there such a huge gap between him and me? Why am I so WEAK? How can I be this weak? How can me and CHouji be this weak? Shikamaru already made chuunin. Now all that's left is me and Chouji. That's it, I'll get stronger, it doesn't matter how much, but I'll WILL get stronger! The InoShikaChou was the weakest, but this time, we'll be the strongest!'_

Ino glanced over at her new teammate, Danno Akihito…_'I can only hope that we'll get closer as teammates and even as friends. He probably already looks down at us for being so weak. Dammit! I'll prove my worth.'_ The pretty kunoichi rambled on in her mind, with an after thought of beating her pink-haired rival.

"Er…Ino-um-Yamanaka-San? Why are you smiling?"

"Huh? Oh, um nothing…heh." The Yamanka trailed of, unsure of what to say. The two had been standing silently for a minute while she was setting a new goal for herself; and now the awkward silence took over again.

"So um…the Chunnin Exam's about a month away, right?" Akihito started, a pathetic attempt to make small talk.

"Um…yeah. A month away," Ino replied; also dumbfounded about what to say the intriguing stranger. "SO…uh… how come you transferred into this team?"

"Well, um…the thing is that…my uh old team…" Akihito trailed off.

_'Why he sound so sad? What happened to his old team? Did something happen to them…?'_ The female blonde pondered seriously to find out more about this powerful genin before her.

Though she was curious, she didn't want to pry into his life. "Oh…Did something happen? You, don't have to say it now, if it's too personal or something." The male ninja looked at his feet for a second before answering, "Yeah…Maybe I'll tell you sometime later." (Bad Naruto…lying to your teammates is BAD! XP)

"Ok, then. It's alright. And by the way, just call me Ino. No one had ever called me Yamanaka-San, before."

"Ha…Sure! And just call me Aki! It's easier."

The Yamanaka nodded with a warm smile. _'Wow, his personality changes so fast. He seemed so sad just a second ago.' _ "Sure!... Hey…you know, You kinda remind me of a guy that I went to the ninja academy with."

Akihito tensed for a moment, thankfully Ino didn't catch it. He recovered in a nanosecond, "I do? Who?"

"Well, this guy was really nothing like you. I don't know him really, just that he was the dead-last in the academy. He was always in trouble with our teacher, Iruka-Sensei." She gave a small pause, with a face like she was reliving some pleasant memories she made while she was younger. "Well, he had blonde hair too, though it was, like really bright and everything. He also had blue eyes. And this is even weirder, but you even kinda _sound_ like him."

NARUTO

"Jees…are you serious? He doesn't really sound like anything like me, except for the way he looks." Behind the mask, Akihito's face twitched; it felt weird to say those words to himself. Regret, anger and even some self-pity bubbled in his chest. The word dead-last brought back some "unpleasant" memories.

_'Well, those words are kind of true. After all, I am a different person from a year ago. I can't believe that Ino would remember me though. Much less even remember how I looked like.'_

"Well, yeah but he's strong now. He was a dead last but he beat one of the #1 rookies at the chuunin exam. Ever heard of…Hyuga…Neji?"

_'Of course I heard of him. I BEAT THE BASTARD.'_ Akihito thoughts were totally different from what exited his mouth. "Hmmm…Hyuga you say? Yeah I think I've heard about them before…but not particularly this Neji guy you're talking about though."

"Well, he was a genius and everything. But he beat him. I still can't believe that he BEAT him."

_'God, it feels so weird to talk about myself like this…I hate plating dumb.' _Though he had to admit to himself, he felt so much more prouder about his accomplish meant…Ino sounded so amazed. "Naruto? That's the guy's name? Well since you put it that way, he sounds pretty strong…Will we meet him in the chuunin exam?" The last question was a pain to the Uzumaki.

_'Damn being so authentic…this is weird…'_

Ino looked up at him with a small pout/frown. "Nah. He left the village about a year I think. Not to sure…I just know that he's not in Konoha anymore. That's for sure."

"Oh. That's weird. Too bad really."

"Yeah, I guess. My friend changed after he left…"

_'Jeez…the way she talks about me…' _"Oy...did you like him or something?"

Ino looked up. With an incredulous look on her face. "What?! No! Why would you ask that?"

"Well, we've been talking about his guy for a while…"

"Yeah, that's true. But I don't like him. I told you already, I don't even know him. Just his name that's all. It's just that it's so strange that he got so strong so quickly."

"Oh. I see. Hey, erm…Sensei's back."

ASUMA

_'Looks like they're getting along fine. Thank god. If she also ended up unconscious then….then…it'd be too damn troublesome.'_ At that the jounin smiled at himself for letting his previous student's antics to rubbing off onto him_. 'Now that I think of it…the pressure point technique the kid did was pretty interesting. It seems quite advanced, for someone his age. Usually high level chuunins are more familiar with that technique; I'm going have to talk to the Hokage later.'_

"Hey, guess today we'll have to train today without Chouji."

Akihito's head perked up with attention at that. "But I! …didn't hit him that hard!"

"Well you don't know your own strength kid" _'At least he didn't do anything serious. Chouji'll be up probably in a few more hours…maybe then he'll heal up and join practice.'_

"Now, since CHouji isn't here, then we can't work on improving how to work together…and as for you Ino, you should learn a new jutsu, since Shikamaru isn't here anymore.-"

"So uh…what IS your jutsu, Ino…-San?" Akihito interrupted.

"The Shentenshin. My family specialized in it."

"Hey isn't that a mind switch jutsu or something like that?" Akihito asked. _'Hmm…he's actually heard of it? I didn't expect him to remember from the chuunin exam , or what it did…'_

"Well, I guess you can call it that…Akihito…but more specificly its not really mind switching. I send my spirit into someone's else's body and then I can control them."

"Oh…I get it. Hey that's pretty cool. Then why didn't you try to use it on me just be--?" Akihito gets cut off.

_'My time to interrupt him!!!' _(Poor Asuma…he must feel my wrath! :3) "You see, Ino's jutsu was developed more as a spying technique. And she needs her opponent to be still for it to work. It takes her spirit a while to reach her opponent's body." (A/N: yeah I know that they're all kinda OOC right here..and especially Asuma…he basically has no character development so I don't really know what to do for him. ")

_'And I heard that the kyuubi kid was last academically at the academy…he sounds pretty intelligent to me. Very perceptive, that's for sure.'_

NARUTO

_'0o0o0o0o0o…I remember now…Ino had used her hair and charka to keep Sakura still…' _ Naruto thought over.

"Then…uh…is this the only jutsu you have? Why don't you just concentrate and try to improve it or something?

Ino gave a cute frown. "What do you mean improve it? It's not like I can make my spirit go _faster and catch up_ to someone that's moving!"

_'Neh…Ino sorta has an attitude…what happened to that nice quiet conversation just a minute ago?' _Naruto complained to himself, thinking for a moment about her problem. "Why _don't you_ try to make you spirit go at a faster pace? I mean you could try can't ya?"

Asuma had a thoughtful look on his face. "Well…I suppose that IS possible. Now Ino, to be able to actually try to make a difference, you practice charka control and a bigger charka reserve."

Ino's frown deepened slightly, but at the thought of getting stronger, she was a bit more serious. "What kind of training do I have to do sensei?"

"Hmmm…let's go deeper in the forest. There's a lake not to far away." Asuma replied; not answering Ino's question.

Akihito mean while was figuring out why they were heading to a lake in the forest. Hell, he knew which lake he was talking about. I was the same lake that he 'laid' on just before a few days he left. _'Oh, no…Kami-Sama she hasn't learned how to walk on water yet?! How long ago did I learn that? A year ago?!' _

Ino and Asuma couldn't help but exchange strange looks at each other and Akihito sighed exasperatedly and shook his head in a disappointed/annoying manner.

"Something wrong, Akihito?" Asuma asked, curiosity gracing his features.

"Neh…We're not doing what I think we're doing are we?"

Asuma was never the less lost in the reply, the blonde gave him. "Well, what is it that you're think we're doing?"

"We're not going to practice walking on waterare we?" Akihito asked in a disappointed tone.

"Walking on water?" Ino asked surprised then looked up at her instructor for an answer.

The jounin looked down at his female student. "As a matter of fact, we are going to practice walking on water."

"…I already know how to do it."

INO

'Damn, what is up with him? He knows how to do it already! Who was his sensei?! This isn't fair…he already knows how to do it…And I'm just learning how to today. Damn, you Asuma!' Ino gave a piercing glare at her sensei. Asuma on the other hand. Didn't notice, or chose to ignore it.

The crowd of three weaved through the woods quietly reaching their destination in about 20 minutes or so.

"Ok, now Ino, walking on water is just like walking on trees, you just need more charka for it." Asuma explained to me.

To emphasize his words Asuma stepped onto the water nonchalantly. "Ok…lemme try." I said uncertainly.

I gathered charka to my feet, about twice as much needed to climb trees. Taking in a breath I stepped onto the liquid surface.

_'Oh Craaapp!'_

NARUTO

_'Well, she sure did better than my first try.' _Through the slits in his mask, Akihito saw Ino plunge into the lake, up to her waist. (I'm not going to make anything happen perverts! Lol ;P no wet t-shirt contests here!)

_'I wonder how long it took Nanashi to get this right. I wish I knew her when she did her first try.'_ Naruto contemplated; amusing himself at the idea of his talented female companion falling in right through the water. Making a fool of herself. He had tried to push her into the ocean before, but the prankster's plan backfired on him, as Nanashi landed standing on the water. That stunt landed him a small lump on the head, and having to cook dinner for himself that night. He ended up skipping dinner, and being scowled at for wasting food.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

**Author's notes**

**Thanks for all the reviews! o And I've just started high school (yes, I'm a measly little freshman. X.x) I might get busier lately, so I made this chapter a bit longer. Hehe " And I know that Ino's power hungry in this chapter…and their all kind OOC here…kinda ran outta ideas for what to write. And just to let you guys know, Nanashi won't be making an appearance till much later. And when she does, the fic won't be centered around her, but Naruto still. There's a good chance of Naruto kicking some butt. And for the last time people NO PAIRINGS! It kills the plot of the story. Buuuut I might write a NaruIno …If I get addicted to writing here. (Hint hint: reviews! XD) And as for the NaruSasu fan people; my fav yaoi pairing is NaruSasu…but like I said I can't write it and don't you think that there are already too many NaruSasu fics out there? Not to mention SasuSaku . I hate SasuSaku! ahem Sorry for any mistakes, (its almost 12 already .) And just for fun, I want to know what you guys think will happen if Nanashi makes her appearance in Konoha.(Yeah I might pick up some of your ideas…(ish a lazy bum..hehe)**

**soul-of-ice: I would like them to be too! D Muahaha!**


	7. CHAPTER SEVEN: Message Sent

**Disclaimer: Do I look like Kishimoto-Sama to you?**

**CHAPTER SEVEN: Message Sent**

NARUTO

_'Neh…this is really boring. I can't belive that none of them learned this yet…' _ Akihito sat, obviously bored at watching Ino's fast progress, and surprising Chouji mastered it perfectLI after three tries. Due to his Baika no jutsus he was quite talented with transferring amounts of charka to different body parts; the only flaw was that, his feet were slightly enlarged when he stepped onto water…but all the same, it worked perfectly for him.

"Come on, Ino! Its easy!" Chouji 'encouraged' Ino on.

"Well for YOU it is! Cause of your Baika no jutsu! I've almost got it so, BE QUIET!" Ino responded irritated.

Akihito gave another airy sigh, then got up and walked placidly onto the smooth surface of the lake. It brought back the memories, and he never realized how much he wished he was alone right now. To enjoy Konoha's bright skies, and clouds that floated lazily by. Lay on the water, letting the cool evaporation seep into his body, calm his beating heart. He could be by himself, and think, about the world, about the kyuubi…his travels in the year that he was away…intriguing Nanashi and...even Gaara.

Then he stood there, slightly dazed, day dreaming, thinking about what happened, when he revealed himself, if Nanashi showed up, hell if Gaara showed up. The three of them together could probably bring Konoha quite some damage if they went all out. They couldn't destroy the whole village, but they could destroy quite a few things. Thinking about the possibilities, he missed Nanashi. Hell he even missed Gaara….just a little bit. He only saw him a few times outside of Konoha, but just when he decided to come back, Gaara left the Sand, and joined Nanashi. A barely comprehensible pang of jealousy ran up his spine. It was like the problem he had with competing with Sasuke to get Sakura's attention...only much much much more different.

Raw rage tore through his senses as he thought of that particular backstabbing Uchiha again.

"Akihito?" Asuma said, looking quite a bit surprised, if not slightly disturbing at the powerful killing intent that the young blond gave off. Chouji and Ino were frozen to the spot, (think of when Sasuke and Sakura encountered Orochimaru in the Forest of Death).

"Huh?" Once, interrupted the killing intent vanished, as he realized, what he did. 'CRAAAAAAPPPPP.' Was the only word entered his mind. 'Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap.'

"Since you have nothing to do, why don't you run 15 laps around the lake while Ino and Chouji practice?"

The masked boy nodded quickly.

"I bet that when you're finished Ino and Chouji will have mastered everything perfectly."

"Hey! I already know how to do it!" Chouji complained.

Asuma shot him a look, "Then you can run the 15 laps with Akihito."

Chouji's eye bulged out, "I can work on how to walk on water without some of the Baika no jutsu in effect!" The Akimichi blabbed and begun concentrating on making his feet the normal size immediately.

CHOUJI

His heart was beating so fast he thought that it was going to burst, but in a way it felt like that his heart was frozen as well. 'What the hell was that?' Chouji thought again and again, still slightly fazed from feeling the killing intent from his new teammate; which was the most disturbing part. He was his TEAMAMATE. In most situations he would try to avoid people like that the most; but in this situation, the guy was his TEAMMATE, and he was stuck with him.

A small bead of sweat rolled down his cheek at the thought, _'He beat me so quickly, I don't even know what happened, Asuma told me that he punched me. Then he said that he healed me. (heAsuma) And Ino had to fight him, yet she looks…fine. Sounded like she almost got him. But he got away. it feels like fighting a jounin or a chuunin! This guy…he's freaky.'_

INO

_'What…was that?'_ The Yamanaka was still shivered occasionally at what she experienced…her own death. Thankfully Asuma was there to encourage her to continue practicing walking on water, otherwise she might have remained rooted the spot still. All her thoughts of getting stronger, were currently ripped from her mind.

She sank slightly lower in the water from her lack of concentration. Asuma told her curtly to try harder. Ino heard him, but she wasn't really listening, but tried anyway on instinct.

ASUMA

The jounin was INDEED slightly disturbed at the forceful killing intent that the felt, from one of his new students. He seemed nice enough, but that was a complete change. He had thought about sending him home, but there's no way in hell that would happen. He might have gone and killed someone! Who knew who?

"Come on, Ino. Even Chouji's better than you." He said.

Once again poor Chouji was degraded. Either he didn't hear it this time, or he choose to ignore it.

Asuma watched Ino's shaking progress. She was getting it inch by inch. Finally around ten minutes later, a female voice, exclaimed in joy.

NARUTO

_'13…14….' And so the counting went on in the blonde's head. Truth is, he ran more than 30 laps that day,_ he was lost in his thoughts; unaware of what he was doing, running on instinct.

_'This is so0o0o boring. Kami-Sama…I even slacked off my running last night…damn. Guess that I'll have to make up today…geez…since Konoha is much bigger...maybe I'll run 45 only. Then after that I could send a message out of boredom to Nanashi…or something….I still have to buy some food! Damn. Well at least no one recognizes me. Its so weird that I'm treated like a normal person…I'm not sure how to act toward them. All the villagers are actually pretty nice when they want to be, once….it's not actually "me" that their talking to…argh…DAMN THESE PEOPLE!'_

Akihito suddenly put on large burst of speed, moving like a wild animal; every strong sweeping motion had a purpose. With blue eyes of crackling flames, Akihito burned his energy slowly. He barely remembered Asuma telling him that practice was over. The images of Ino and his long friend Chouji leaving were a mere fading photograph shriveling to black against the burning flames that emitted from his eyes. He ran. He ran and ran and ran, forgetting his former plan of running laps around Konoha. He just ran who-knows-how-many-laps around that small lake. Sweat was running down his body in rivers. He didn't remember ever running this long without a break except for the day he left this place. His fluid joints became hardened concrete as they grinding together, leaving a dark trail of asphalt behind him. From the lake he veered off into the forest, and into Konoha's streets, around the city borders.

He was lucky that he wore a mask, otherwise he might've been recognized immediately by any passerby. Without him knowing, the fire licking away inside him turning his eyes into the color or fresh, oozing blood. The eyes of a demon. He had been running for who knew how long? All he knew is that he wasn't even tired…in fact he felt no different from when he first began. He was so preoccupied that he didn't even notice someone approaching till they were 100ft away.

(Calling him by real name now) Naruto recognized the charka signature after a second or two and continued running. He wouldn't bother with him much.

Soon the figure was watching him run from atop the trees. Naruto ran a few more laps till he finally confronted the new arrival.

"How long are you going to sit there and watch me run, Kakashi?" Naruto asked, slightly annoyed, all the while he didn't stop running.

Expectedly a figure flipped through the air landing from a point of at least 20ft. The grey-haired jounin walked nonchalantly to him as he approached the bend of another lap.

Naruto lifted an invisible eyebrow. "What do you want?" The short blonde slowed to a very brisk walk.

Kakshi walked just as briskly along with him, with his longer legs which was no problem. "How long have you been running?" The copy-ninja asked; eyeing the trickling sweat that covered him from head to toe.

The blond shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't keep track, this time." Naruto matching the nonchalant tone that Kakashi used.

"You should be more careful."

Naruto's head hung slightly in embarrassment. "Yeah…" He replied assuming that it was the incident that happened earlier in practice, realizing his mistake…, "Wait. How did you know? You anywhere near me when I was in practice."

The jounin next to him visibly brimmed with curiosity. "Naruto…what are you talking about?"

"Wait. What are _you_ talking about?" Naruto suddenly uncharacteristically serious.

Kakashi shook his head slightly giving a very faint how-could-you-not-be-aware-of-that-you're-a-ninja message. "You're charka."

Naruto looked on, then caught on. Behind his mask, his now blue-eyes widened, as he instinctively hid his charka.

"Oh…crap. How far away were you when you sensed it?"

"Thankfully it was faint. I sensed you immediately though, we were just at the edge of the forest."

The apathetic mask, mirrored his emotions perfected at this point. "What do you mean _we_?"

Kakashi actually took a serious tone, much to Naruto's surprise. "The team. I'm positive that Sasuke caught it for a moment, maybe even Sakura."

The Uzumaki lost control of his charka for a moment as it exploded, then immediately hid again. At the explosive charka, Kakashi even jumped half a centimeter. A feral growl rolled out of his throat barely audible than a whisper.

Kakashi sensed the hostile change in Naruto and put on his guard, tense and ready for attack. To his relief it didn't come.

A mouth that bore abnormally sharp canines twitched in annoyance. Naruto had a GARGAUNTUAN(think whale-huge o.o) urge to slap his sensei on the back of the head; messing up the silver hair. "Kami-Sama…Did you have to tell them to prepare for something at the chuunin exam?! They'll figure it out, dammit!" Naruto growled.

Kakashi was once again surprised at Naruto's quick thinking, the great change in his student. "Don't worry, I'll make sure that they won't. Besides its been a year already," he hesitated to say the last part. "They think that you're gone…for good."

"Hn. Well, that's good. How are you going to make sure that this is taken care of?" Naruto said indifferently once again matching the apathetic mask he wore.

Kakashi finally turned his head slightly to look at his student. "Just leave it to me. I am a jounin after all. Not one famous for his capabilities. I'll just distract them with the chuunin exam. They're easily distracted these days." He ended strangely, taking the tone of an actually teacher reporting to a parent of their child's behavior.

Beneath the physical mask Naruto wore on his face, a malicious smirk appeared; but failed to leave a trace in his new smooth hypnotic voice. "As long as you get it done."

"Learn to put some faith in your sensei." Both grew slightly awkward at the outspoken phrase.

The two suspicious looking characters walked on in the forest. Bid one another goodbye and took their separate ways.

Naruto thought about the information that he received from Kakashi of the previous team 7 that he was once apart of. Being easily distracted is a _very_ bad trait for a ninja.

The Uzumaki was lost in his thoughts again while exiting the forest….

_Two figures appeared up ahead…they were in each other's arms. They were familiar figures. One had trademark hair that was spiked in the back…and the other had bubblegum hair…that paled in the moonlight. Naruto bristled and walked up to the back of the figures. _

_Either they **really** degraded in ninja skills or Kakashi was right, they were distracted much to easily. They didn't even notice him when he was a foot in back of them. Till finally the taller one turned around. Naruto gave a wry grin and disappeared, only to appear in front of them, while both heads were turned._

_His raspy voice whispered, "I'm right here."_

_To his delight they both swiveled around, eyes wide and surprised. _

_Sakura asked a simple question, whilst Sasuke glared. "What do you want?"_

_Naruto shook his head. "Don't you mean…who am I?" He removed his mask, slowly, peeling it away from his new face. Thin and grinning, his angular jaw moved as he spoke. "Sakura…Sasuke…Its been awhile…."_

_Their jaws hung open in surprise; speechless. Sakura collapsed as a kunai punctured her beating heart. A pair of steel hands were wrung around Sasuke's neck…blood pouring…_

Naruto shook his head as he was snapped out of his 'sleepwalking.' Of course he would NEVER do that…but when he saw the Uchiha for the first time when he came back (in raven-form) he still wanted to scream at him. Scream till his throat was raw and bled a crimson river. He wanted to scream and place his hands on each side of the boy's head and crush the skull that created such cold thoughts and betrayals.

The Uzumaki shook his head again. Ridding the image of a bloodied Sasuke. He stepped inside his house with the quiet as a cat. Silent and graceful on padded feet. He continued onto his isolated room and sat on the bed.

Naruto crossed his legs and sat Indian style. Hands resting on his knees, he closed his eyes, and stayed in that perfect formation, for ten minutes, skin cool from the dried sweat. He focused his mind and soul. Face screwed in determination. He wasn't that good yet so it took a bit more effort.

His eyes snapped open. Finally! He sensed her, Nanashi was far away, take or give a few hundred miles. He sensed her, a tiny pinprick, a needle in the haystack…but wait there was someone else too, they were really close together in the same area…but Nanashi's signature was barely stronger. The other identified pinprick was Gaara. Naruto smiled to himself sadly. He did miss her. He didn't get to know Gaara that well, with his late arrival as he left, but he was slightly envious since he knew what situation he was experiencing right now.

He figured that they were probably training right now. In the dead of the night, when the air was cool and refreshing. He smiled again, all the better to send a message.

He got off the bed and strode to his desk. He rummaged through the drawers for a small empty scroll and a writing medium. He finally found a brush and settled for cutting a scroll in half. He dipped the brush in a bottle of crimson liquid and began writing; ignoring the coppery smell that crept into the air.

The bloody words said:

_Hey Nanashi, _

_So what you and Gaara have been up to? I know that it's only been two days since I get here, but it's FREAKING BORING. My teammates only learned how to walk on water today, can you believe it? Well at least I wasn't placed with my old team. I met up with Tsuande-Baba and she almost crushed me in her hug. Yes, CRUSH me, I told you the crazy old hag was strong. Hell I bet that she'd even crush YOU too if you were caught in it, hell even Gaara's absolute defense might crumble. _

_Well, that's pretty much all have to complain about except for ONE more thing. You guys should come over here before I crush that Sasuke baka's head! _

_Bored. Bored. Bored. Write back! _

Looking down at what he wrote, Naruto smirked at himself for the stupid ending he had, and the cheesy joke about Sasuke bastard.

In the next half hour, a boy of 14 was standing in the middle of the woods a mile from the surrounding gate of Konoha. He took the battered scroll out of his pocket and placed it on the ground. Naruto kneeled and pressed his two hands on the scroll, red charka glowing from his hands. His canine teeth sharpened just a bit before he stopped transferring anymore charka into the scroll. He stood up, holding what used to be the paper scroll in his right hand; now a blob of purple charka. Doing one seal a bunshin appeared in front of him. Naruto approached the clone and pressed the blob of charka into its heart.

The clone doubled over for a moment before recovering itself and nodded. Naruto gave a curt nod in reply as the clone transformed into a more "normal" sized raven. With a flap of wings, the glinting blue eyes of the bird disappeared.

Jumping onto the treetops in a mere second, Naruto watched his clone fly away to its destination.

NANASHI

She was midway in practicing effortlessly some complicated flips in midair when she sensed herself being scanned. She smirked to herself. The scan was wavered and clumsy, but it stayed on her all the same.

Her message from Naruto should arrive in the next couple hours; as she sensed the familiar charka closing the gap between her and it slowly.

_'Well that was pretty fast. Are you that bored already, Naruto?' _Nanashi thought to herself, smirking at the blonde's predictable antics. She herself thought about going to Konoha with him. Just in case he got out of control and blew everything up…but decided against it. There was no way Gaara could go, after he made quite an impression ambushing the leaf not long ago. So poor Naruto was to go alone. _'It's the best way, anyway.' _She added as an afterthought to herself.

Billowing smoke appeared, seeming to slither from her being. There was no light, so the smoke seemed to be just a grey blob in the night. There was a reason why Naruto and her held such a special bond. Not only bound by the strong friendship they shared.

Nanashi smiled. A malicious smile full of her new razor sharp teeth that aligned her mouth. The smoke cleared, and Nanashi was no more.

NARUTO

He was back at his apartment again, trying to sense his close friend. He had just found the pinprick that felt like the size of the tip of a needle, as it sudden ballooned to the size of a tiny bead. Naruto pouted as he figured out the reason for the burst of charka. _'No fair. She's having all the fun. I wish I was there now. Damn her, well if she's flying, why shouldn't I?'_

He opened the window just about a quarter. Naruto glowed blue for a moment before transforming into the large raven with ocean-blue eyes.

The bird flew for hours. Dotting the familiar sky that was his home.

His feathers seemed to contrast oddly with the dark blue night sky with a faint hint of crimson. Gigantic wings that probably had a span of three feet, maybe even more. The black bird glided effortlessly; swimming in the glittering night, sharp talons that hung useless in flight. The cool night air bit at him, waking up his sense to a new level that no human could experience. His mind came to a stop, as he focused on gaining more distance between himself and the earth below. A breath of air escaped its beak as it hit a cloud, thrilled as the fresh dew drops collected on his feathers. There was only one word he could use to describe this feeling. Freedom.

It was then that his surrealistic feeling was interrupted by a burst of charka. His beady blue eyes widened and he flew over the gates of Konoha. Once he did, he took all of his might to stop himself from flying all the way back to the new life he discovered. He forced himself to surrender the freedom of wings to land about a mile away from the Gate of Konoha, in the middle of the fire country's endless forests.

He landed on a sturdy branch as his form took that of a human boy again. The night sky was paling ever so slightly, it was probably four in the morning Naruto concluded.

He sat on the highest branch of the mighty sequoia. Tens of feet from the ground. He closed his eyes once more, and let his clone's memories flood to him.

There was nor a frown or smile on his face, you didn't need any of those things to see that he was happy as he "lived" those memories.

As he touched the ground, through the bird's eye view (funny…bird's eye's view from the _ground_…..ok cheap attempt to make a joke...) The mist was thick and he didn't even see the large set of talons till it was four inches from him. He saw the familiar pale glow of her charka, and felt his clone transform back into a human.

The dark figure stood in front of him, the mist clearing, as she landed. He felt himself grin toothily. He felt Nanashi's ghost of a smile, through the mist.

"Hey Nanashi!" He heard himself say cheerfully, in a low tone. Not in that boisterous yell that he used to greet Sakura with.

Again he felt her lips curve into a smirk. "Go on with your complaints." He drank in her smooth teasing melodious voice that seemed to envelope only him.

He took of his mask, and felt the rush of air touch his face. He saw his hair fall into his view. He gave another sheepish smile. "So what have you and Gaara been up to? I know that I've only been in Konoha for two days, but it FREAKING BORING!" His clone recited perfectly. Nanashi was now in full view in front of him. Eerily elegant as her face was covered in shadows that hid her face to the full extent. But the shadows did nothing to Naruto's eyesight, he knew that she was beautiful. He knew that she was stunning to he; himself and everyone else in the world.

He couldn't help it. He knew that they were friends only, but he felt like a moth drawn to the dancing flames, powerless to resist. But his clone couldn't do anything without out him willing it to…so, it stood there and carried on the conversation. Reciting the letter, Of course.

At the end of the "conversation" his flow of memories stopped. He opened his baby blues. He tapped his feet, he was always impatient of the little things.

TSUNADE

The senin was currently asleep atop a pile of papers on her desk, only to be wakened abruptly by a ninja.

She opened her eyes, one…by one. "What is it?" She said rather slurred from the intoxication of sleep.

Her spy spoke. "There has been some unusual activity with the sound lately. There's a possibility that they're planning another attack."

Tsunade's eyes shot open immediately; alert and shocked at the same time. "What?! What has Orochimaru been up to?"

The ninja shifted nervously. "Well…it seems that he has been recruiting more…_ninjas_…" he spoke the word ninjas carefully, like it was a cover-up for what they actually were…animals, who've lost the art of the ninja. Not even human. The work of Orochimaru.

The brows of Tsunade's genjutsu disguised forehead knitted together in unpleasantness. She rubbed her furiously pulsing temple_. 'Damn Orochimaru…another attack, children of such a young age…innocents turned into something that even a jounin can't handle properly. Except…for the brightest of the genin…' _ Tsunade went on hope filling her slowly_. 'Thank God, Naruto's back…he would be a great help. Seeing that he required a way to work kyuubi's charka.''_

The ninja's masked face showed confusion as he saw a smile trace the Hokage's lips. She looked up at him. "Very well. Well done on the mission. I shall call you for other matters later. At least we know of the attack this time…we can prepare. We won't let our guard down this time."

Tsunade smirked to herself, as the ninja rid himself of her presence. _'We'll get you this time Orochimaru.'_

SASUKE

The brunette was currently in bed while all this was happening. He tossed and turned in bed in restless sleep as his dream was replayed again and again inside his head.

The aura of power that Naruto radiated. Raw, fierce power. The frightening image of one person that contained so much power. How was it possible to get that kind of _special_ power? Even in his second level...Naruto STILL managed to beat him…like he beat Neji…and Gaara. How could this be? He was the dead-last! The trouble maker, whose snores echoed in class. Sasuke twisted around in his position again. Naruto's charka was a mass of burning fire, spreading at least a meter long from his being itself. He couldn't touch him. Even with his scaly wings there was no way that he could lay a finger on him. As he collapsed to the ground…he remembered liquid falling onto his face…it wasn't the stickiness of blood. He opened his tired eyes to see piercing red over him, a demon's eyes that shed a river tears.

_"When I'm with you I wonder if its like…having a brother…" _

Those cursed words echoed in his mind. He dreamed of the past when he discovered what he had done to himself, what Orochimaru had planned. If Orochimaru took over his body then there was NO WAY that he'd be able to kill his brother.

Ever since he "died" everything seemed slightly surreal. Like he was fading in and out of this world. The curse seal still stung every morning. Reminding him of the thing he hated most. Weakness. The seal was a weakness that he tainted himself with.

Then he dreamed of when he woke in the hospital. Confused of the change in scenery. The familiar pastel white that greeted his long rested eyes. The sudden rush of memories. The sudden rush of emotions…

Self Hate for the defeat.

Hate for the stronger opponent.

Determination for power.

Envy of the enormous taste of power that he received.

Anger of not getting to Orochimaru.

And lastly…shock jolted his veins as he felt the tears descend onto his face…

He touched his face, absently mindedly from reliving the memory. In his temporary shock, he could even see the bloody tears smeared onto his fingers. Strangely enough…they were cold sullen tears that he couldn't even tell whether that it was his imagination or an actual memory.

He pounded his fist onto the table, almost breaking it in-half. His joints were stiff, and he winced at the sudden movement. How could he _lose_?

He jumped out of bed. Not right in the mind. Though with only one thing running through his head…a new member had been added to his death list. The one and only Naruto Uzumaki.

He shoved past bustling doctors and slow patients that littered the hallways. Ignoring the strange feelings of creaking emitting from his frozen joints. His instinct were calling for blood, and revenge. He saw the blinding red, the fearful demonic face that seemed to magnify itself 10 times wherever he looked. His blood boiled as he stormed out of the hospital, little did he know that on the way out he shoved away a pink haired girl. Sakura. He did not remember seeing her at all. There was only one face swimming in his puddle of thoughts, a blue-eyed blonde that switched into a bloodied face, with blood red eyes.

He stopped his rampage through the village, not even knowing where he was going. Then there was a flash of silver hair, an annoying obstacle that stood in his way. He tried to fling it aside…it worked with all the other things! Why shouldn't it work on that? But no…it kept coming back to him. Pestering him on his path to revenge.

Then darkness took him. As he remembered awaking again to the familiar white ceiling. Only this time he was strapped to the bed…and there were…two people on each side of the bed…? He was dazed from the explosion of emotions earlier, and confusion was etched onto his face.

"Ka-Kakashi…Sensei? Wha-er-you doin ere?" He said sluggishly. Unobserved by Sasuke's drugged senses, Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the slurred words that exited his students mouth.

"MMGhrrRR!" Sasuke yelled, as something pink tried to choke him. After a few seconds he realized that it was only Sakura…

"Ur…get offa mee." The girl reluctantly got off of him, a watery smile plastered on her face. She stared intently at him. Sasuke turned to looked at the jounin, confusion slowly leaving his face.

Kakashi waited for Sasuke to gather his thoughts, and when his face was alert and steady; only then did he began to speak.

"So you're awake." Those simple words held a serious tone, that left him speechless. Without looking underneath the underneath, Sasuke could figure out that they were going to have a little "talk" about the incident before.

"Sakura, please leave the room for a moment." Kakashi's voice still carried that rare deadly serious tone…it almost sounded threatening. The female genin left the room quietly.

"What happened?" Kakashi asked. Sasuke stared at him blankly.

Kakashi sighed. "You need to put some emotions aside, Sasuke and tell me what happened that day. What happened between you and Naruto?" The jounin didn't ask him, but stated it sternly.

Sasuke was a bit taken back at how blunt his sensei was at this point. He glared at the foot of his bed. Why should he say anything? What did they care what happened to Naruto? "Nothing." He replied coldy.

Suddenly he felt the murderous rage emit from his sensei. "Sasuke, tell me what happened. You can't avoid it. Of course something happened…You both were in terrible shape…and as for you…we've put a restraint on the cure seal."

His eyes widened. What?! He felt the back of his neck instantly, finding that it was incredibly tense, two jutsu's balancing each other with tremendous force. Anger flared inside him. "There's nothing that you can do about it." This time Kakashi's tone had a hint of anger a in his voice…yet disappointment lingered in the air.

Sasuke whirled to face his sensei. That glorious power that he felt as he transformed. He felt invincible! How could they take that away from him?! He had wings to fly! He could kill his brother from the skies! His sharigan appeared, that was fully developed much to Kakashi's surprise.

"Don't try anything. Just tell me what happened, Sasuke. Simple as that."

Once again an angry silenced ensued the Uchiha. Kakahsi sighed at the superior complexity that Sasuke had…now just doubled in its complexity.

"All right, then. Did Naruto say anything? You HAVE TO TELL ME." Kakashi ordered.

Sasuke burst in rage. "Why the hell are you asking ME?! Why DON'T YOU JUST ASK HIM YOURSELF!"

The room turned into a deathly atmosphere. Kakashi was unusually still. His voice was an airy whisper, full of venom. "Because…I can't. Naruto's gone."

Sasuke's eyes snapped open in the middle of the night…to find his covers a pathetic heap on the floor. The shock of those words were so real in the dream…it had some how woken him up, strangely a new determination filled him. The summary of what happened filled his head in an indecent ramble. Naruto was gone, he had been gone for a little over a year. He had missed the chuunin exam last year. He had a new teammate, named Tohru. The chuunin exam was a month away.

His fists were clenched. Agonizing red was imprinted into his eyes; of the Sharingan…of the demon eyes that bled tears at his defeat. Naruto…I WILL DEFEAT YOU.

NARUTO

A flutter of wings entered his vision as a raven with pale blue eyes landed in front of him. Naruto smiled happily at the new arrival. His hand glowed as a blade of purple grew from his hand. He and Nanashi both invented this themselves, it branched from the charka blade, a medical techinique…but their charka blade had a different purpose. With their unique charka, it was the key to unlock the clones, and listen to the message. But for his blade touched the heart of the clone…he was interrupted.

His head turned toward the direction of fierce determination. A bloodthirsty revenge…that called out toward Konoha. He narrowed his eyes…it couldn't be…

It was very faint though. He had felt that power before…

Orochimaru.

O0o0o0o0oo0o0o0o0o0o

**Author's Notes:**

Sorry about long update…high school gives alotta work. Thanks for the reviews. Made this twice as long for you guys just cause of the delay. Sorry about any errors.

**Btw for fun, I wanna know what you guys think will happen when Nanashi makes her appearance in Konoha. Yes I might steal your ideas. ;p**


	8. CHAPTER EIGHT: Time Flies…

**Disclaimer: Do I look like Kishimoto-Sama to you?**

**CHAPTER EIGHT: Time Flies…**

NARUTO

'What the hell is that bastard up to?!' Naruto thought furiously. Orochimaru was up to something…he was almost looking forward to it, just to get a chance to kick his ass.

A soft feather touched his cheek. He looked up to the branch hovering right next to his head. He would think about Orochimaru later. Right now, his message was here!

A month later…

SASUKE

"Here are your papers for the chuunin exam." Kakashi handed to them casually.

Sasuke smiled with anticipation. He hadn't felt this excited since well…the last chuunin exam a year ago. Though this time he didn't meet any foreign ninjas. His hopes were high that it was going to be full of strong opponents. This new determination that filled him was really odd. It was like he and Naruto and competing for power again.

He smirked to himself as he thought of all the possibilities.

Sasuke's eyes widened. 'I might even get to see that Gaara guy again.' The Uchiha was letting the excitement get to him. But as he thought of how Gaara had a demon in him…and how huge he turned out to be…how was he going to defeat that?

The familiar scene was played again in his mind…again Naruto appeared. That gigantic frog that he summoned! Such a display of power! 'Dammit! I still can't do that…I can only summon dogs.' He had been training the summon jutsu that he ALMOST just almost begged Kakashi to teach him. He gave his summon technique. Damn.

"Excited Sasuke?" Tohru asked. A smirk played on his lips as well. Sasuke sensed the same reaction in his male teammate. He sensed confidence in his female teammate, and hesitation. He decided to not to say anything to her about that. "Yes..Very. There were a lot of strong ninja's the last time I took the exam. Hopefully there will be even more this year."

NARUTO

"Wow…a month passed by already? I can't believe that it's already time for the chuunin exam!" Naruto exclaimed.

The whole team had silly smiles plastered on their faces, foolish smiles that only the nervous youth could produce. 'Just like a year ago.' He thought.

Memories flooded back.

He thought of all the possibilities. Too bad that Gaara wasn't attending though. It would've been more fun if he was.

With an achieved air of confidence, the team marched into the examination room…a whole hour early.

**Author's Note: I am so sorry about this….TT….high school is changing my life. I need some ideas also cause I've hit a writer's block. I have no idea what should happen. I had the sequence of events in my head before…but its been quite a while…so…I pathetically forgot. -- please forgive me. **

**Thank you for all the reviews! I deeply appreciate it.**


	9. CHAPTER NINE: The first test

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**CHAPTER NINE: The first test**

NARUTO

The first test had begun. And to his disappointment…it was almost exactly the same…even easier. To his surprise.

Five minutes went by…he knew where his teammates were…Ino was 2 rows in back of him…Chouji was all the way in the front. He had given Ino the answer, by letting her use her mind/body switch jutsu…simple as that, though all the while packed with wonders. And it was the same with Choujii; who sat in the front. Naruto, five minutes later, couldn't believe that he was done already. 'I remember this test being so much harder!' The Uzumaki thought to himself, in slight bewilderment.

Naruto heaved a huge sigh of boredom. He glanced to his right, there was this guy with brown hair…and bandages covering his eyes. He looked stumped. Naruto lost interest in him immediately and looked to his left, it was a girl, who sported a red ponytail. She looked like she was even worse off than the guy to his right. Beneath the mask, he arched a delicate golden brow, what's going on? The test isn't even hard! What's up with these people?

Still he had to admit he was having fun all the same, the people next to him were intimidated and now under pressure, from his quick finish. Naruto felt it, and smirked. It was a nice feeling to comprehend and exhibit.

TOHRU

'Wow, its only been a few minutes and this guy's already done! But…he's definitely too powerful to be a genin…something's up with this guy..'

This test…requires a tremendous amount of brains…that I don't have…or even the patience, this is Sakura's type of thing. Sasuke's probably's got it… since he took this test before, he should know what's going on…no average genin could answer these questions. And it's not a genjutsu so…they must be testing us on something…well, only one way. I'm not going to leave this paper blank, time to take of the bandages.

Tohru took off his bandages to reveal, white pupil-less eyes…"the all seeing eye, unlimited to the pupil." It was an extremely far relative of the hyuga's eye. Except Tohru's eye of the Mareo clan was slightly different from the Hyuga's. His Mareo eye could see charka..and charka only. Without the bandages on, Tohru would be blinded with all the charka signatures. The bandages help tone it down. Shinobis from the Mareo clan mostly have some sort of protection over their eyes, except for some elite ninjas, who are greatly respected for their power and the intense concentration needed. Now with the bandages off, Tohru was using all his mite to coat Naruto's paper with his charka and trace the imprints on the paper…enabling him to read the answers backwards.

Now it would be cool to watch your own charka at work, if it didn't make your head hurt so much.

After about another 10-13 minutes of what seemed like eternity to Tohru, he finished copying and put his head down, due to the pounding migraine. Thinking over what he wrote…he realized that he summarized some incredible detail. Still too tired to lift his head, he wondered about the faint aura of power that was seated next to him. 'Damn…I have to warn Sasuke and Sakura to watch out for this guy…he could be dangerous.'

SASUKE

'This hasn't changed at all. Except for the questions…Sakura must've got this…I know what's going on…but what's Tohru doing? Well looks like he's got all the answers so we're done. Good.' Sasuke's sharingan flashed for a nanosecond longer, before disappearing.

Suddenly he sat up straight as he felt a chill run down his spine. He turned his head to find that people were also straightening their backs. He turned toward his right…toward the middle of the benches (he was far off to the right edge) and saw …Tohru? No, it wasn't him that was giving people that feeling…it was the guy NEXT TO HIM…with blond hair, that looked oddly familiar.

Sasuke's eyes widened, but then he shook himself to his senses…he should look at it a different way. 'He was a new challenge for him. Another step along the way to his goal.'

NARUTO

Naruto smirked as he watched his answers distributed through the room. Some through Ino…some through Chouji, and then people started catching on…he could feel ton's of different charka forms approaching him, and manipulating his paper or even he himself. What an odd feeling.

'I'm guessing that I'm earning myself quite a reputation already.' He sent out a wave of faint killing intent and watched it flow over the crowd, he almost sniggered out loud. Hey, could you blame him? He was BEYOND bored…and resorted to his old-self, playing pranks…except this time…different.

Finally after what seemed like an ETERNETY. The same old instructor gave out instructions for the "mysterious" tenth question. He saw the bewilderment of the rookies faces as the pressure slowly weighed them down.

SASUKE

Sasuke's mind was a usual blank of boredom. 'Same thing. Why don't they change it for once? We can just keep retaking the test over and over again…and then all the easy points would be known to us…idiots.'

And so on, went this criticism inside the Uchiha's mind, till it finally wound in a different direction. Toward the last exam that he took…where there was a familiar blonde in his team. If he were here, he'd probably scream something stupid, yet encouraging at the same time. As strange as that may be.

In his thoughts, his unconsciously brought the masked blond into his view. He'd only realized till a minute passed. And his stare was returned. Sasuke quickly turned away. ALMOST embarrassed. (yes, almost.)

"If you get this question wrong. Then you can never take this test again."

With his head turned, he felt the stranger's eyes steady gaze bore into his head for another second before it ceased. A few random genin passed by him as they headed for the exit.

Till a smooth defiant sliced through the air.

"Like I care. Even if I GET THE QUESTION WRONG it wouldn't matter to me. I may keep the rank as a genin, but with time I can surpass the skills. So the rank would mean nothing to me."

IBIKI

Morino Ibiki averted his attention to that somewhat familiar voice. 'Same defiant tone. Could it be? Seems like the demon is back. Melting everyone's fear away ONCE AGAIN.' Ibiki smiled grimly, "You. Name?"

The mask clad blonde was silent for a moment. The snickered. "Why do you want it? Are you failing me already?"

The special jounin gave a wry grin. "You seem familiar that's all."

Once again, the genin, remained quiet for a moment before stating his name. "Danno Akihito."

Ibiki frowned slightly at that, but nodded with acknowledgment. 'Hmmm…I remember that the kid two year's ago…name started…with a N? Na-something...Uzumaki…Naruto. Hmmmm, something's going on.'

SASUKE

He was staring at the blonde again, much like the rest of the room. "Danno Akihito…I've got to remember that name. God…he even SOUNDS LIKE NARUTO…his voice…but. It's different. Could it be? No, it can't be.' Sasuke pondered…over and over. The raw ambition to defeat Naruto flared up again…instead he labeled…this 'Danno Akihito' as the new 'Naruto.' Which was kinda true…yet also very ironic.

Then before you know it, something crashed through the ceiling. To reveal a purple haired jounin. Anko.

IBIKI

Ibiki's face fell, as Anko bursting in with yet another DRAMATIC ENTRANCE.

"You're…actually on time for once."

Anko turned toward Ibiki, and shot a glare, but choose to ignore that statement. She stood and observed the participants again. "Wow, Ibiki. You're starting to suck at this. I mean, look at all these participants! It was like that one year…o well no matter. These numbers will be cut at least in half."

Ibiki looked onto Anko, in irritation, but let her continure anyway.

Anko looked onto the group and announced, "I AM MITARASHI ANKO THE EXAMINER FOR THE SECOND TEST! FOLLOW ME!" She led the group to a familiar site…the Forest of Death…

O0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

**Author's notes: FORGIVE ME. I'M A LAZY BUM, WHO PROCRASTINATES WITH HIGH SCHOOL WORK. -- thank yew for the reviews! D**


	10. CHAPTER TEN: The second testpart 1

**Disclaimer: DO I LOOK LIKE KISHIMOTO-SAMA TO YOOH?**

**CHAPTER TEN: The Second Test…part 1**

NARUTO

Naruto looked on at the strange purple haired figure that led them to the familiar forest of death. Naruto shivered, Anko freaked him out slightly from the last encounter.

Ino and Chouji came up behind him. Ino peered at him curiously. "Something wrong. Aki?" Naruto turned, remembering once again that that was his name now. "No, nothing at all Ino." He stood there and gazed into the dark shadows of the forest and grinned.

"I'm looking forward to this. What about you guys?"

INO

Ino mirrored his grin. "If its nothing like last time, then I'm looking forward to it too. Right, Chouji?"

Chouji was unusually silent. He seemed to be day dreaming, as snapped into attention at the mention of his name. "What? Oh, yeah, me too."

"So how was it last time?" Akihito asked. Ino looked over at her large teammate. "We'd rather not mention. Forget, this time it'll be different. And we'll be the strongest team there is, right?!"

This was Ino's way of a little pep talk, except this time it helped. 'We WILL BE THE STRONGEST TEAM THIS YEAR.' There was an air of confidence around the 'new' team 8.

On the way, to their assigned gate this time, they were on the opposite end, that they started b4 she spotted team 7. Sasuke, Sakura and Tohru…they were assigned to the gate next to them, which wasn't much of a surprise, since they were team 8 and they were team 7.

Ino smiled and waved, while Sakura returned the gesture, before they both lost sight of each other. 'This is going to be a totally different experience!' Ino thought happily.

As the signal was sent, the teams rushed in.

NARUTO

He was in the lead of Ino and Chouji, and was already bored. During the first test, there were a few with potential but he hadn't sensed anyone that could prove to be a true challenge. Damn. He looked behind him, he felt that he was going rather slowly, at least they were closely behind him. "Hey what do you guys wanna do?" He shouted.

Both Ino and Chouji winced at the volume of Naruto's voice. He slowed down a more as both caught up to him.

Ino glared at him. "Aki shut up! Someone could HEAR US!" Ino said in a low tone. Naruto looked at her, his face matched the mask he wore. Apathetic and blank.

"So?" He retorted carelessly, "Then they'll come to us."

Now it was Chouji's turn to shoot him a look. "We'll get ambushed. Aki, we SHOULD be more quiet to get the advantage."

"Come on. You guys improved a LOT. I'm sure u guys will catch them while their hiding. And if not, then I WILL," Naruto cocked his head, "Speaking of which…lets head up a mile or so…there's a team up there waiting for us if you're so worried." The Uzumaki stated plainly.

Both Ino and Chouji's eyes widened in unison, then they both calmed down…they were used to these random demonstrations of his power. It just…well, it was surprising every time. It truly made you wonder how powerful he really was.

The masked genin looked upwards toward the treetops and a fox-ish grin spread under the mask. "Hey you guys? How about…we travel from up there?" he pointed upwards.

Ino and Chouji stared at him. The trees of the forest of death, where very…how would you say it? Unpredictable. Not at all like the trees in the rest of Konoha…the tall pines (lets say they were pines..don't they look like pines to yooh?) were more uniform, and overly crowded so that you wouldn't have to just a great distance. But as for THESE trees…well their branches were twisted and gnarled…and most of all VERY uneven.

Naruto shifted in the moment of silence. "Fine…you guys can stay down here…I'll be up there keeping an eye on you guys. I'll be the ambush, how bout that?" He negotiated.

His two teammates agreed. Then an idea sprung in his head. "And one more thing. Let's cover as much distance possible, and try to get to the tower as fast as we can with out any breaks. We can wait near the tower for other teams to arrive and fight them for their scrolls."

"Without any breaks? How long are you planning to go without any breaks?" Chouji asked. Ino looked like she was about to ask the exact same thing.

"Hmmm, right before night falls…then we could get some food and rest."Naruto didn't like the look in their faces that they were giving him. He chuckled nervously. "Uh, guys? What do you think?"

INO

The Yamanaka was currently glaring at her teammate. 'He wanted them to run for the whole day? RIGHT BEFORE NIGHT FALLS? What if we CAN'T find any food?!' But nonetheless she grudgingly agreed. 'Think of this as a way to challenge your self. You can become strong this way. Test your stamina.' Ino weighed the pros inside her head as she ran along with Chouji, who was even more flustered than she.

She turned to him, and gave a warm smile. "Don't worry Chouji. Think of this as a way to challenge ourselves and get stronger!"

He looked at her, looking more reassured and smiled back. "Thanks Ino. We've all gotten stronger. Now we should test ourselves."

She nodded in agreement. 'If only I can find Sakura. I've improved so much more. I'm positive that I can beat her…but she might have improved too…argh. We CAN'T BE ON THE SAME LEVEL!' And with that infuriating thought, Ino put on a burst of speed. Chouji lingered behind.

NARUTO

The trees tops of the forest of death WERE UNPREDICTABLE. There occasional huge gaps of at least 55ft in between and varying heights, so that one second he was lowering himself to the ground and the next he was closer to the sky.

But nonetheless he loved it. It was so much better. A pleasant smile graced his lips, but only one thing was bothering him. The mask. He couldn't feel the wind against his face. Only through the damn eye slits…so that the winds rushed into his eyes. The Uzumaki pouted, and then decided to take flight.

From his graceful movements it already looked like he was flying above the treetops, but in a split second, his form was replaced by a large raven. Naruto felt the glorious joy of flight again. He forgot his teammates for a moment and gazed at the clouds and thought a few simple words.

A step closer to heaven.

With his wings outstretched, he felt Ino and Chouji below him and took on more speed to check for the team ahead that was waiting for them. As for his abnormally large size, that was no matter. The creatures here all were unusually large for their species. He fit just right in.

He glided over the tangled trees and detected three foreign charka signatures…right where Ino and Chouji were headed. The blue-eyed raven turned around to formulate a new course with his team.

He dropped and turned into his human form midway the fall right in back of them. "Hey you guys! Stop for a second." They turned around, completely shocked by his presence.

They stopped, panting slightly and shot his a look of curiosity. "What?" Chouji and Ino asked in unison.

"Is there something wrong?" the kunoichi(sp?) asked.

"There's team right up ahead. Waiting to ambush us. We can avoid them, or counter their ambush. What do you guys think?"

"Well…it's only mid afternoon. I think that we should counter their ambush and get their scroll." Chouji said.

"Yeah, I'd rather do that too." Ino agreed.

Naruto smiled. 'Well at least we'll have a little fun on our way even IF they have the same scroll as we do.' He nodded and smiled a smile that they couldn't see.

"We should send in clones. One to walk in blindly as bait. And another to pretend as us, the 'original.'" The female genin suggested.

The Uzumaki happily agreed, in fact it was what he had in mind. "And before we get there we'll use Doton Shinjuu Zasnhu no jutsu (Earth type: inner decapitation skill) and counter their ambush."

Ino brightened up, confidence growing. "That's perfect!" And with a curt nod from each of them, a second later, 3 teams of Naruto, Ino and Chouji were headed toward the ambush.

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**Author's notes: sorry about these short chapters… its new years…spent al day writing this. I work very slow..and get distracted easily.. **


	11. CHAPTER ELEVEN: The Second Test part 2

**Disclaimer: DO I LOOK LIKE KISHIMOTO-SAMA TO YOOH?**

**CHAPTER ELEVEN: The Second Test-Part 2**

NARUTO

'These charka signatures…seem…familiar.' Naruto mused to himself. The three original genin were following their pairs of clones at a slow pace. 'We're nearing…time to go underground.' With a quick motion of his hand, Naruto signaled the both of them to go underground, moving at a faster pace to get to their target team before their clones. Slightly savoring the strange experience of 'being in charge.'

All three of them moved underneath their clones. Naruto's eyes widened as he figured out who the charka signatures belonged to.

'…NEJI!' It was the old team…composed of Neji, TenTen and Rock Lee. 'Damn, this can cause some complications for me...and there's no way to communicate underground except for signals! It'd be easier to make this quick, Neji might recognize my charka when I use a jutsu!...Oh well, guess the original plan will have to do. ' The Uzumaki was currently under a tree, where Neji had hid behind. His guess was the Neji was going to be the opening attack…with the inadequate cover. He 'saw' his clones come into the area and felt Neji make his move. 'Hmmm…a trap.' Naruto figured.

NEJI

Above Ground

The past #1 rookie smirked and shook his head at the fools that fell into their trap. The team came into his view. He analyzed them for a moment; and recognized them as the rookies two years ago…accept the new addition, a masked male, cloaked in black with light blonde hair. He narrowed his eyes at him. He was foreign and might pose a threat. He threw three kunai directed toward them as the signal for TenTen to start her shower of weapons.

The three barely dodged the kunai before a shower of kunai and shuriken came at them from the opposite direction. The new arrival seemed to be of a high level than the other two. 'No surprise.' He thought.

The masked one pushed the other two out of the way, and managed to deflect the remaining weapons with his own two kunai.

Neji smirked. 'Yes, he's a potential challenge.'

A green blur dropped from the sky heading toward the masked one was of no surprise to Neji. Though he could already see that Lee's target was alert and ready.

As Lee was 'falling' both Neji and TenTen jumped in to attack. He headed over to the Akimichi boy and aimed a punch. To his surprise, he blocked and absorbed the attack by enlarged his arm with perfect speed. He threw a kick and hit its target.

His minor triumph was cut short as Chouj disappeared into a cloud of cloud. 'CLONES!' The Hyuga put his Byakugan to use and saw that indeed they were simple bunshins.

And just in that nick of time he discovered this, the originals leaped into view. Planning to ambush THEM INSTEAD. 'What? How could this be? How did they know!'

From his 359 degree angle of sight, he saw the 'real' Chouji leap and aim a punch at him. He fist was ten times larger. Neji dodged and pushed a charka opening using his Hakkeshou, the Chinese martial art of gentle fist fighting; stopping the flow of charka to his arm. He arm shrunk back to its original size.

Neji was not amused. He wanted to fight the masked blonde, not this doddering idiot and decided to finish this quick.

ROCK LEE

'This guy is pretty good. He defended almost all of my attacks so far…but somethings wrong. He still on defensive…' Lee thought as he fought the blonde…there was also something oddly familiar about him.

The green beast of Konoha's flurry of advanced taijutsu was blocked one by one. By then he was getting slightly frustrated and leaped away, gaining his familiar pose that beckoned this stranger to attack.

The apathetic mask turned at an angle, then turned to where Neji and Chouji and joined in.

Rock Lee's eye widened with surprise. 'WUT IS HE DOING!...how unpredictable he is...but you're MY OPPENENT NOT THEIRS.' The green clad creature entered his teammate's ending fight.

The blonde strange actually LANDED a hit on Neji, it was 'pure luck' that he attacked from his blind spot.

Neji stumbled; more from the shock than the hit. It was been quite a while before anyone hand even laid A FINGER ON HIM, much less land a KICK. He adjusted himself quickly to glare at his victorious attacker only to find the challenge that he lusted for.

"Neji!" I said, also shocked. "GAH!" Right in that split second I flew forward as someone hit me in the small of my back…I winced at the pain slightly. Though the surgery was successful some parts still were more sensitive than before.

Rock lee turned to find that the one who attacked him was his beloved Sakura-chan's RIVAL! The pretty blonde, Ino.

That…made it all the more complicated for our loved green beast. He did not like to hit girls.

But it seemed that every assault she threw at him was meant to be fatal, though her speed was considerably slower than his. 'TENTEN! Where is she? She's supposed to be fighter her not ME!' He searched around frantically while dodged with ease. He found TenTen to his right…fighting ANOTHER INO? A CLONE? Rock Lee swiveling his attention back to his female attacker. 'Which one's which!'

TenTen was currently fighting another Ino, who was bleeding. TenTen saw Lee being assaulted by the clone and yelled, "LEE, HIT HER! THAT'S A CLONE! SHE'S RIGHT HERE!"

Lee looked and her, and gave an acknowledging smile and did a quick punch to her abdomen. His eyes widened as the expected result did not follow. Ino DIDN'T GO POOF.

Instead she did what the real Ino would do. She fell to her knees and spat out blood. Lee's eyes were even rounder and wider. 'WHAT?'

"TENTEN, YOUR FIGHTING THE CLONE!"

"No, I'm not!" Lee turned around behind him, as TenTen's voice was clearly closer. Before they all knew it. TheY were all herded into a group. The clones all disappeared.

"WHAT!"

NARUTO

Underground Naruto smirked and snickered a bit. 'Chakra enforced clones do WONDERS. But time to get serious. It's TIME!' He sent out a jolt to each of his teammates to appear above ground.

above ground

Three voices cut through the air.

"DOTON: KOUDO KANGOKU!"earth type: earth prison

"DOTON: KOUDO KASUI!"earth type: earth spikes

All of the older genin were now trapped with muddy walls that protruded spikes. There were a few grunts as the spikes gave them a few scratches.

Naruto had helped Chouji to create the earth prison while Ino had combined her jutsu with their's hence the spikes coming out of the wall.

NEJI

He was in shock that he was actually trapped by ROOKIES! Well, then again, he also got beat by a rookie…

'WHAT IS THIS?' His 359 degrees of sight were blocked by the charka coated dirt. There was no roof to this 'prison' though it was already guarded by the masked one. Neji narrowed his ivory eyes at the new arrival. 'That aura…I've felt it before. C-Could it be?' Neji thought…or more likely _hoped_. Naruto Uzumaki was something that he had never met before in his life. Everything was vibrant about him…and now that he thought back; there was something dark lurking beneath the blinding light, a shadow.

But now as he looked up, something inside him clicked. And what happened next confirmed it.

The cloaked figure bent down to look inside this 'prison' of theirs that they were trapped in. He touched the top of the wall and made a hand sign as he whispered something inaudible. Rock Lee made a move to punch and kick his way out of it. Till the figure interrupted him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." His teammate looked up curiously, the stranger returned his gaze. "Unless u wanted to die here of poisoning."

The Hyuga's eyes widened. 'It IS! IT'S UZUMAKI.' When the blonde had bent down to perform the justu, he had saw his charka path and a strange pair of swirls 'stacked' on each other on his stomach. (the other swirl is the seal for the kyuubi, Neji just doesn't know that) The two swirls were unique only to him. Though everyone had different charka pathways, those two swirls belonged only to him. He remembered exactly on the day they fought in the LAST EXAM, thinking how strange that was.

NARUTO

The blonde cocked his head a certain, achieving the fox-like appearance again. 'I don't like the way he's looking at me…has he figured it out? How CAN HE?' But he ignored and continued. Extending his hand he requested almost politely, "Hand over your scroll. You're trapped and there's no way to escape. Even if you do, my teammates are right there waiting to fry you." His voice was light and there was no emotion attached to it, it was just a plain statement.

Behind the mask, his face was just as plain as his words. Blank and void of expression. Thought the lingering suspicion discovering him, was unnerving. 'He couldn't have.' The Uzumaki reassured himself.

"AKIHITO! YOU DONE YET? HURRY UP!" His female teammate yelled, obviously impatient.

Neji smirked at him. Naruto felt even more nervous and repeated his monotone request. "Hand over the scroll." Lee and TenTen turned to look at Neji, the bearer of the scroll; looks of puzzlement on their faces as they saw him smirking in triumph.

"So…Akhito. Is that your new name?"

'NO!' Naruto drew back a tiny breathe, eye wide. 'HE COULDN'T HAVE! CRAP!' But he played it cool, and, again repeated the gesture of turning his head to one side, replied in mock confusion, "What are you talking about? Give me the scroll! You're trapped! This isn't the time for you to talk nonsense!"

Neji's teammates were still looking at him in confusion. But Neji, nonetheless remained as cool as his reputation gave him. "I will. Once u tell the truth…"

"Naruto."

"NARUTO!" Rock Lee and TenTen's voices melding together as exclaimed the name that exited the Hyuga's mouth.

The Uzumaki froze to the spot a moment, before continue putting on his 'show.'

Snarling a bit he continued. "Stop wasting time! Give me the SCROLL."

"What? Naruto! Akihito, what are they talking about?" Ino exclaimed as she too joined him at the opening of the mud walls along with Chouji.

The masked male turned to both of them and replied coolly. "I don't know. All I know is that they're wasting time, and too blind to see that they have no option left."

Neji was still smirking, impressed by how Naruto changed, how calm he was acting. Quite a show, if it even fooled his own fellow rookie 9. "Take off the mask, Uzumaki. Give it up."

"Shit, that bastard figured me out.' But the kyuubi vessel had a trick up his sleeve, Henge was a very complicated jutsu, but he simplied it even more. Into to 2 hand signs. Thankful that he had his cloak on, that shielded his hand, he did the two signs in a flash, not to mention using his right hand as a distraction as it moved to his face.

INO

'COULD IT BE? He never took off his mask before, we've never saw his face! But…how could it be Naruto?' She didn't remember much about him but she remembered that he was loud and a trouble maker, NONE of those two met the Danno Akihito that stood before her.

But never the less, Hyuga was a genius…and they had their ways to figure out things. "Naruto?" She and Chouji asked in disbelief.

By the time humid air hit his face, he had dark brown eyes, thicker bushier eyebrows, large nose and an exaggerated bottom lip that protruded. Whisker marks were absent without a trace.

Ino's eyebrows dented on her forehead. 'Well, I'm kind of glad that he didn't. He isn't ugly, but he's far from cute.' Ino thought.

She looked down onto the fearsome Hyuga, thinking that he lost it. 'How could he think that HE WAS NARUTO? I mean sure he was blond and all, but COME ON! I'M BLONDE TOO!'

And apparently from the looks Neji were getting from his teammates, they were thinking the exact same thing that she was. But still, the Hyuga stood tall, totally serious.

"Naruto, Stop this foolishness, with Byakugan on, I can see that you are in Henge, the charka openings in your face a practically pulsing in my eyes." Ino's blue eyes widened. 'He's in HENGE?'

"What?" Chouji asked incredulously, but looked at 'Akihito' either way. Studying his face.

"Naruto-Kun? Neji, what are you talking about! Naruto left a year ago!" Lee argued, though his face slightly dimmed as he informed them about his departure.

"Well, it seems like now, he has finally decided to return." Neji replied, and turned back to look up at his 'captor.'

"Akihito" looked down at particularly giving a complete look of guilt and defeat. He closed his eyes.

And whispered one simple word. "Kai." Undo

Everyone's eyes widened a great deal except for a pair of ivory white ones, that gleamed in triumph. Right in front of their eyes, his nose shrunk, his eyebrows thinned themselves out, and his lower lip shrunk back. And confirming his identity, three whisker marks appeared on each side of his cheek. The last and final touch was that when he opened his eyes, instead of a dull brown, they shined with the bluest eyes that you've ever seen.

Everyone seemed to be shocked into silence. Even Neji was quiet. Though the blond possessed the same features, he looked incredibly different. Somehow. His hair was still spiked and untamed, but it was slightly longer and a much lighter shade of blonde, a bit lighter that Ino's. His eyes were no longer as large and curious as before, at that moment they were lidded heavily, as if to shield the secrets of all that he had seen in that past year he had been gone. And his face, he had lost the baby fat that was in his cheeks. His face was thinner and angular, his jaw was a bit more pronounced, but very subtly. The whiskers on his face were also slightly thicker, but just a bit, barely noticeable, and slightly crimson.

But most of the thing that shocked them into silence the most, was his personality, he still bore the familiar traits that the old Uzumaki had, but his hyperactive-ness was gone.

He had grown up.

NEJI

The Hyuga was the first to recover in that moment of silence. Keeping true to his words, he silently took out the hidden scroll and held it up.

Naruto looked at it with with ocean blue eyes and gave a small smile and took the scroll. "Heh. Should've known that I couldn't fool the great destiny-bound Hyuga." He joked quietly.

'I knew it. How he has changed. This Naruto…he has been through many things…I can see it in how his eyes have changed. But in ways, he is still the same one who had brought me out of the darkness.' Neji thought marveling the Uzumaki's physical and apparently mental change. Well, the Hyuga himself had changed slightly too.

"Well, of course." He had a little humor in him now.

NARUTO

Naruto grinned and snorted. "Still the arrogant bastard, aren't you? Not much of a surprise. How many times do I have to kick your ass before you learn?"

The Uzumaki made a few hand signs. "Ino, Chouji get off as I release the jutsu's."

The two snapped out the dream-like state that they had taken, since Naruto showed his true face and leapt. Then the kyuubi vessel himself followed lead, and a second later, the mud prison was but piles of dirt surrounding them.

'This certainly isn't how I imagined my 'reunion.' Naruto joked to himself. But now, his identity was revealed; he needed to ensure that it was remain a secret. Taking on a deadly serious look he looked every single on of them in the eye and put his mask back on.

"Well now. This has been a nice reunion, but there are higher matters to speak of."

He saw all of them raise an eyebrow in disbelief of the way that he was talking. Calm and sophisticated. He smiled. Amused. 'Had I really changed that much? I'm shocking everyone.'

"How can I trust each of you to never let this exit your mouths?"

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**Author's notes: WOW…I'm on sucha roll! I got so inspired today and wrote out this thing in a day! I hope this will make up for the short chapter lately. . **

**Thank you for the reviews! (I do believe that I got inspired because a few first time reader's reviewed and pointed out something that I liked. So sue me. x )**


	12. CHAPTER TWELVE: The Second TestPart 3

**Disclaimer: Do I look like Kishimoto-Sama to you?**

**CHAPTER TWELVE: The Second Test-Part III**

NARUTO

Naruto…was still unnerved by the fact that his identity was revealed, but he trusted them, except for the TenTen girl…that he didn't know her that well…and Rock Lee, he knew that he always meant well, but feared that he might accidentally slip out of excitement.

Through the slits of his mask, he eyed his two teammates by his side as they scouted around to look for a good resting spot. They…looked…like they were still in shock, no, I take that back, they WERE.

He turned back to his own thoughts… 'I can't believe that Neji figured out it was me. Dammit. Next time I'll remember never to do jutsu's in front of a Hyuga again.

NEJI

The team was currently resting in the treetops, darkness falling on them like a wet blanket.

'He's back!' Neji pondered, his mood has lightened considerably. Heck, he couldn't even believe in the first place that the blonde had left in the first place. When he found out, he had almost been shocked senseless. Well almost.

**FLASHBACK**

He groaned. His torso was sore. His eyes opened. White met white as he awoken in the hospital room. He groaned again.

His mind was completely blank. All that he registered was that he was in a familiar place; the hospital. And somehow his mind didn't even ask _why _he was in there. It was just a simple acceptance, no questions…nothing.

He turned slightly to his left; the curtains were closed. Pale light was showing through. His biological clock was right on target. Little did he know that it had been about a five months and a half since the mission. He tried to sit up. It didn't work. He only managed to do half a crunch, which caused his abdominal muscles to protest slightly; being at rest for more than a month. This time he grunted instead of groaned. It felt like something was holding him back from sitting up.

Slightly suspicious, he narrowed his white eyes, and mustered his sleeping charka to work. With the Byakugan, he saw that he was under some sort…of jutsu. 'Wha…What's going on?' he thought. No more than 20 minutes later, a woman walked through the door…looking like she just woke up.

She gave a small smile. "You're finally awake." She spoke in an airy slurred voice. Yep, it was confirmed. She had just woken up. "I'm Shizune. Good to see that you're awake. Now just let me…" She made a few hand seals, and Neji discovered that the 'restraint' was gone. He sat up fully now, if not with some slightly difficulty. "Now let me do a quick check over you."

Her experienced hands, scrutinized the spots where he was injured previously. Seemingly satisfied with the results, she disappeared out the door. After having another 20 minutes or so to himself, another woman came in…he remembered her…as the Hokage. Neji's eyes widened slightly in surprise. 'No way… she can't be. I must be mistaken.'

The lovely woman stood in the doorway for a moment. Looking him over just by view. An air of authority radiated from her. The Shizune woman stepped in behind her. "Neji-san; meet-"

"Tsunade-sama." The other woman interjected.

"The Hokage." Shizune added. Tsunade swelled with pride just a bit. Just a tiny microscopic bit.

And Neji's eyes widened again. "…Hokage-sama…" He said, full of respect and even attempted a bow. The Hyuga's were very proper and always showed respect, if not some spite in Neji's case.

Tsunade smiled. "No need for that Hyuga. Just let me check how you're doing then we'll see when you can get outta my sight."

_Two weeks later……_

Neji walked out of the Konoha Hospital a new man. Well not really. He walked out a new man after that fight in the 3rd part of the Chuunin Examine. He just walked out…feeling much more free? It seemed like he had been stuck in there for _years. _He looked around him…months had crept past without him.

A familiar frown crossed his features. 'I need to train. I'm behind. So much time has been lost.'

"NEJI-KUN! OVER HERE! YOU'RE FINALLY OUT!" The Hyuga turned over to look behind him to see, his 'o so-beloved sensei. Gai. And his mini look alike. Lee. Neji, shook his head and didn't even bother to decipher who called out to him. He stood and waited for them to catch up to him…Which wasn't long. Thankfully.

Awkward-ness. 'What am I supposed to do say hello? Greet them?' Neji's mind was spinning with those thoughts.

"How are you!"

"We were worried!"

"You look good as new!"

"Perfect example of the power of YOUTH!"

"You'll show your youthful energy and strength to them next time!"

"You missed out on so much!"

On second thought, never mind. He heard everything in bits and fragments. But that was okay, because they'd always repeat it some other time soon.

"DAMMIT. I KNEW YOU GUYS WERE TAKING TOO LONG STOP TORURING WHOEVER YOUR -NEJI! YOUR BACK!" A new feminine voice interrupted the babbling of the green beasts of Konoha. And it was no surprise that it was TenTen.

Neji decided to stay wordless and nodded a greeting. He remembered why he was thankful for TenTen; she was the saner one of the two. TenTen gave him a quick look over then turned to the two creatures clad in green. "Are we going to go back anytime soon?"

Gai looked at his female student. "Why of course!"

_Fifteen-minutes later…._

The team was in a small secluded area in the forest.

Neji sat, pondering over the mission before and questioned Lee who sat before him, having calmed down. "What happened to the others?"

Lee frowned. "The others? They're…fine now. They've healed quite a while ago. You've been in the hospital for the longest…well except for the Chouji guy…I think he's still in there." And then from there on, Lee filled him in on the details that **he **knew of. (ie: Gaara coming…Kimimaru.)

Neji cocked an eyebrow, but nonetheless wasn't at all that surprised that Naruto sped after Sasuke. He was the most determined of them after all. Being…his teammate…or ex-teammate should I say. 'And the Uchiha won…he beat Uzumaki.' Naruto had beaten him…as shocking as it may have seen, and then the Uchiha beat him. What a surprise. Just how strong was the Uchiha?

"Naruto…looked horrible when we returned." Lee spoke, but he said the Uzumaki's name carefully and…quietly every time. "It's really amazing actually. He came checked in at the hospital in the worst condition out of all of us. Yet, he was the first to get checked out."

The Hyuga's eyes widened a bit. Another reason the loud blonde was certainly something to ponder about. But closing his eyes, from Lee's body language, something had happened to the blonde that he now…respected. "Alright Lee…what happened to Uzumaki? You're too easy to read."

Lee straightened-up at him and looked at him oddly. "T-They didn't tell you?" He looked a bit older then, not like the beacon of youth that Gai claimed him to be. Leaving Neji, the Hyuga genius utterly wordless and without the slightest thought of what was going to exit his teammate's mouth the next moment. He never expected it.

"Naruto's gone…"

A pair of ivory eyes widened; disbelieving. 'He_'s gone?' _Brows furrowed in concentration at digesting that thought. "He's gone…?"

Lee's face darkened; almost like he was angry. "He left and deserted us. There was a team sent after him. I heard that it was a team of ANBU. That they caught on his trail easily, but found that it lead outside the border of Konoha. A team of _ANBU, _Neji-Kun. And they _still _didn't get him back." It was confirmed the taijustu-specialist was definitely upset about this. Reading him, he found that Lee some felt guilt and concluded that he blamed himself.

A new feeling arose in him. A new feeling that he never experienced before. Sympathy. His usual ice-cold eyes softened, however some guilt in him also arose. He laid a hesitant hand on his teammate. "Lee, its alright…there was nothing that you could do…that any of us could do."

His round eyes, were narrowed, and hard. "Well maybe not _you. _ But _me? _ I was healing…I could've gone after him!" He looked down, fist clenched visibly.

The Hyuga looked down also. Clueless of what to say. Silence ensued, and wrapped them in their thoughts.

"…Why?" Neji asked.

Rock Lee looked up, thoughts clouding his view; his face softened. "Well…they did find a note. Hokage-sama showed it to me. To all of us. Nara and Inuzuka." The strangest things appeared on Lee's face. It was bitterness combined with hope at the same time.

"On it, he wrote…I'll…be…back."

The Hyuga's eyes widened for the zillionth time that day. So many surprises the blonde brought. Even when he was absent. Neji was surprised…then suddenly confused at the bitterness present of his teammates face. "If he wrote that. Then he will be. There's no doubt in that." Another new, but slightly more familiar emotion crept in his being. Hope. Brought by the one and only Uzumaki Naruto.

"I do not have any doubt in that. B-But…WHY? Konoha does not need to have to choose between two of the great shinobi's! And one the least loyal one to stay…"

Neji looked on and nodded in understanding. "But. He'll return. Isn't that all that matters for now? He did not betray Konoha."

"Yes…but it felt like….he betrayed…**me**."

**FLASHBACK ENDS**

**PRESENT TIME: CHUUNIN EXAM PART III.**

The memory flowed back. He turned to look down at Rock Lee. Who sat underneath the branch beneath him. Neji couldn't see his face, as Lee was distraught and looking down. He sensed turmoil in him, but that was all he got.

LEE

Lee was currently in this state completely confused. About everything, his emotions and thoughts were jumbled into a huge sphere on writhing fire. On one side, he was overjoyed that the blonde shinobi was back. But on the other, he felt bitter resentment. Questions without answers weighed on his sore shoulders. 'Why did he leave? Why now? Why the mask? Why the DISGUISE?' Memories flowed back, to when they talked.

"YOU'RE LOOKING AT THE FUTURE HOKAGE HERE!" echoed meaninglessly in his mind. He thought to the image of how he looked back then, to that energetic conversation they shared, to the wordless one they had shared just not long again.

It was somehow him …but at the same time it wasn't him. He was different. The aura of joy and energy had vanished. It seemed that his innocence had vanished. When their eyes met, his eyes were warm and still kept that undying shade of blue of the calm shimmering ocean. Then the next moment they changed. Sharp, dark and fierce, the blue now held a storm brewing at the oceans heart, holding secrets just as deep. Threatening even. But what scared him the most was that, those eyes fit him. It sent a sickening chill from his spine down to his heart. It was like he was two entire people. The classic light vs. dark struggle. Warmth joy and Darkness pain all trapped in the same being.

All these changes in him, confused Lee. How to react to him. How to accept him. He had looked up to him. He still does…he thought. But now, it was like the person he looked up to vanished and then the body came back…carrying a new personality, only letting the original show for moments. Lee closed his eyes from exhaustion. Not that it helped, since the exhausted part was his mind that was exercising all those thoughts and conceptions.

NARUTO

He looked around his surroundings with the new pair of eyes that Lee had seen, and then to his teammates…they softened. 'They are still shocked.' And a pang crossed through his heart as he knew what was going through their minds. 'They are afraid.' He looked down. 'So this is what its like to be a part of a demon. Tortured and isolated while young, and then feared later for life.'

The now older Uzumaki despaired, but suddenly hope overtook him and even a smile graced his lips. 'Its alright. At least I have them. My new family.' He thought happily, he still has an optimistic look on things…though he changed...not everything about him had. Another reason that he wasn't as boisterous and loud as the person before he left, was that experienced what could be called family. Nanashi. I suppose that she could be called his sister. But not really. He had hoped for her to be his in a different way.

Someone to confide in; cherish and trust with everything, and for them to do the same with you. It was an exhilarating feeling for him. Family. And now, he was gaining a brother through Gaara. Though he did not know him that well, he remembered when they first fought. How he thought they were exactly the same, but close enough. He smile broadened. He was sure that when he returned they would get along just fine. He would need to get him to talk more…but he was positive that everything would turn out if not perfect then for the best.

Thought that precious experience did wonders for him…it also condemned him to some other things. He wasn't as trusting as before to others. It made him slightly paranoid and suspicious of the people around him. I supposed that you can say, after tasting something that's the best thing in the world, everything else just doesn't seem as good as it had been.

Dusk had long fallen. Darkness pressed against his eyes. It was a great feeling to be in Konoha again truthfully. Nothing had changed. But even then, he felt slightly homesick. And as if on cue. He felt it. A familiar charka signature moving through the forest.

A flutter of wings. A gentle touch of a feather. A raven. Naruto took of his mask a grinned a gigantic foxy grin, eyes in slits. "You have great timing!" He whispered in a breath, surprisingly. Knowing that his teammates were still awake. Watching him probably. Pondering about him no doubt. He leapt away in a flash. The darkness concealed him lovingly.

Landing a few meters from where Chouji and Ino lay. He stopped as the bird followed gracefully. He looked at it, at its lovely eyes. Eyes that were a distant blue, unlike his own powerful blue eyes. Her eyes were pale and almost translucent. Like the sky on a cloudy day, steel slate. They glinted and changed colors as the moonlight touched the irises from different angles. Naruto smiled.

Her eyes. She was the sky and he was the ocean.

His hand glowed crimson, illuminating a red halo in the darkness, and touched down the raven's head and down its spine to 'unlock' the message. The smaller form of the raven, glowed metallic silver, then grew to take a human form. He smiled at the clone from the heart, even though it wasn't the original. For now, that was good enough. And from the clone a smirk was given and one word uttered.

"Surprise."

**Aurhor's Note-­­- yes I know. Once again, I'm incredibly sorry for the long wait. And the short chapter. But I'll let you know that at I'll be submitting another short chapter make it up soon. **

**And I don't really know about the Lee or Gai so…sorry if I haven't kept them I n character really. ''**

**THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS AND SUPPORT.**


	13. CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Surprises

**Disclaimer: Do I look like Kishimoto-Sama to you?**

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Surprises**

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER:

_His hand glowed crimson, illuminating a red halo in the darkness, and touched down the raven's head and down its spine to 'unlock' the message. The smaller form of the raven, glowed metallic silver, then grew to take a human form. He smiled at the clone from the heart, even though it wasn't the original. For now, that was good enough. And from the clone a smirk was given and one word uttered._

_"Surprise."_

NARUTO

Naruto's brow furrowed in confusion, in the very next moment a tiny blur of brown shot up almost hit him smack in the middle of the face. It…was a ball of sand…a human eye…made of sand to be exact.

The Uzumaki's eyes widened staring wildly A/N: Naruto doesn't know about Gaara's abilities yet at the oddity before him. Then he felt it. About a kilometer away, stood two familiar charka signatures. Naruto's previous grin returned, only twice as bright. He couldn't believe it! He leapt of his current branch with such speed and enthusiasm that there was a small crack as a few lone splinters fell softly to the ground.

In no time, he appeared before the waiting pair; grin spread wide. Nanashi smirked in darkness.

"Like my message?"

Naruto let out a small but genuine laugh. "You guys came!"

NANASHI

Her eyes softened a great deal from the steely gray blue…to a translucent color of a teardrop. She could even hear smile his voice. "Yep. Me and Gaara wanted to come and see how you were doing. You better be passing with flying colors."

The blonde's curiosity got the best of him. "Gaara now? How _are _you doing Gaara?" He asked with slight hesitance. He only spent little more than a week with him before he left. And as you can tell they weren't that familiar with each other.

Gaara was still, nonetheless an apathetic boy. It would take some time to soften him and make him more humanoid rather than his android like exterior. The redhead next to her looked up, arms crosses, face still. "Yes, everything's been…going smoothly…I suppose…" He replied monotone. "I take it that you have the other scroll?"

Naruto perked up and looked down and smirked. "Well, _yeah.__" _ But following that smirk, came a frown. "But I also got something else along with the scroll."

Nanashi raised an eyebrow. Gaara would've too, but…well he had none to raise. "What is that 'something else?" She asked. Her thoughts couldn't come up with a conclusion to the said statement.

The blonde turned to Gaara. "Remember the Hyuga male from last year's exam The one that I fought?" Nanashi, lost; turned to the demon carrier next to her. Gaara, took a moment to think. "Hmmm, yes I believe that I do. The one with special charka manipulations?"

The Uzumaki nodded, "Yeah...that's the one. Well, I learned never to do a jutsu when they have Byakugan activated…" The female among them, turned her head slightly sideways, wondering where he was going with this…till a viable conclusion came to her. Her lashed eyes widened, then she narrowed her eyes in a tease. "Naruto…don't tell you blew your cover _already.__"_

The kyuubi holder nodded sheepishly, "Well, _how was I supposed to know _that the Neji could see through it?" Was his feeble comeback. She sensed an incredible faint however shocking hint of amusement in the redhead next to her. She let out a sigh that melted with the breeze. "So….how many people found out?"

"More that I'd like." Naruto replied; obviously annoyed with himself and his mistake. "My team and Neji's bteam…A total of five people."

She opened her mouth again, but apparently her friend already knew what she was going to ask. " Well, I trust them not to let it out. It's too soon to let everyone know. I don't want to see _them _yet." She nodded in understanding. 'He still isn't ready to face, Sakura or Sasuke yet…'

"What about your old sensei? Kakashi? And…Iruka was it?" The Uzumaki nodded. "Well Kakashi knows, but well…Iruka…doesn't. Idon't know…I want to see him really bad…but I don't at the same time. He's like my family in a way, you know? But…well…I don't know." He finished, eyes clouded over with emotion and thought. "And Kakashi I planned on, just not so _soon._ But it was also an accident at the same time." He finished sheepishly. "I went into my old apartment, to check how things were while in Henge and then the pervert was coming to check on things too. He thought that I was a thief or something. Haha. And then I figured why not? And you know what? It was pretty fun actually…talking with my sensei again. We sparred for a while and then I never knew that I _grew **that much**._ I mean. I knew I grew but…I never knew all that training with you helped that much!" And without warning, Naruto jumped onto the calm female in a hug.

She stiffened a great deal while balancing on the narrow branch she stood on. But she had gotten used to these pounces carried out by the fox. In the beginning she would've kicked off...but well. Like his effect on everyone else, the loud blonde grew on you. He let go quickly and leapt back to his branch; knowing that he would either fall into the darkness below or get punched into it if he didn't let go soon.

"Hey you guys, let's go somewhere else to talk, yeah? This place…doesn't bring the best of memories."

Naruto glowed violet for a split second and then melted into the shape of a large raven. Nanashi glowed silver and did the same, her raven form ended in pretty much the same size to Naruto's abnormally large. And Gaara, glowed green for a moment, and then did the same.

A trio of ravens took flight. Each with eyes of sapphire, emerald and topaz A/N: Topaz is a bright light blue jewel.

CHOUJI

Looking up to the branch above him, he sensed that his 'newly found' teammate was absent. Naruto. He still couldn't believe it. He was so happy that his old-childhood friend was back…but, he wasn't the same. He looked to his upper right and saw Ino, apparently awake and looking back at him. She got up and leapt to his branch. Eyes dark with confusion.

"T-That…was Naruto the whole time?" She asked quietly. It was obviously going against her memories of the boisterous at the academy.

Chouji looked at her. "Well…I guess so. I can't believe it. It was him all along. How could I not have known?" 'He was one of my best friends…and I couldn't even recognize him.'

Chouji thought guiltily. But then he thought back, reasoning with himself that how could've he? The personality Naruto showed was calm, and though his mood could change in an instant, it mostly…stayed…quiet. But maybe he was nervous? To be back? But why would he? This is his home. This is _our home. This is where we both grew up in._'

INO

"Well…I never knew Naruto that well…but he wasn't always like that was he? So-So…different?" Ino was going to say cool after it..but…it sounded rather odd. 'Naruto? Cool? …even a tiny bit handsome?' The voice snaked into her mind voluntarily. A small amount of blood rushed to her cheeks. 'No-No way! Naruto cute? Thank god that it's dark though.'

He looked better though, from what she remembered. Waayy better. Could a year make that much of a difference? And he was so much taller. She remembered him as this blonde little annoying runt running around screaming dreams foolishly. Either that or being yelled _at. _ Nothing like what she experienced with this past month or so at all. She had always wondered what lingered behind that mask. She shivered involuntarily.

That mask.

It sent shivers down her spine. There was something about that mask that she didn't like. One thing was that it looked like a mirror and it reflected what ever it looked at. Whether it was the day or night or a person. At night it seemed to turn black as the shadows itself. And when it looked at her. She didn't know what to think. She didn't know what to see, or exactly what she _was seeing._

But it was odd, because there was something about that mask that also drew her in. It was like something horribly disgusting, but you were still intrigued to go back and take a closer look. Those…red designs on his mask. They looked like tears to her. Like the rain had forgotten which way was down, and started falling from the side.

Raining red red tears.

NARUTO

His grin had not fallen of his face yet, even as a raven. He led the two to his favorite spot. Atop the faces of the previous Kages that looked over Konoha.

He landed with grace and the other two followed silently. The raven with sapphires for eyes folded his majestic wings and looked over his home. The other two followed, Gaara sadly didn't land as gracefully as them. He had only mastered it a week ago…and it was still quite new to him. XD And in another split second three teens appeared.

None of the other two had been here before, Naruto thought. But now he was glad that he got a chance to show him. This was his place. And only his. He could be alone and think here, cry his tears here even if he wanted. This tiny portion was his sanctuary from the harsh reality that the world had given him. And he turned around and nodded toward the view.

Konoha was a huge country, and right now, not all of it was asleep. Pinpricks of light dotted in random order, it was a breathtaking sight. From the corner of his eye, he saw both Gaara and Nanashi shift.

"I can see why you love this p l a c e. The view's spectacular." His female companion voiced. "Konoha's lovely at night." There was a slight darkness from the way she had said the word 'place', but it went on unnoticed by Naruto. Though, Gaara noticed it, but decided against it to ask. He would ask later; in private. He had a feeling that she wanted to keep this to herself and _only_ to herself, but it was worth a try.

Gaara nodded appreciative of the view spread before him. "Yes, I must admit, Konoha does look beautiful at this time."

GAARA

Gaara looked over the view of Konoha. It was beautiful indeed. But still he was not used to it fully. All the vegetation, the cooling weather during the day, the warm nights. He was used to the harsher weather in the Sand Country.

Naruto didn't seem to be the only one 'homesick.' It was a shock that Gaara would find himself missing sand. But still, he enjoyed this 'new life' that he had acquired with Nanashi and Naruto. It felt like an era of freedom. He was free from the shackles of demon and bloodshed back at the Sand Country. Here with them, he was free.

And though he didn't ask, he was pretty sure that was the reason why Naruto was involved in this too. But about Nanashi...he wasn't sure. She seemed to be a lone wanderer for quite a while. Probably the same had happened to her. He didn't ask though. Well not now anyways. Later maybe. Maybe when he got used to the new found freedom that he discovered. He remembered how it happened.

**FLASHBACK**

It was a bright scorching day. As usual, in the land of the sand, there were tiny swirling tornadoes at his feet. Some were natural; others were for his own amusement. No one could tell, but that was all that mattered. From a civilian's eye, even though he was just standing and watching these 'mini wonders' he was the bloodthirsty demon, with a single will to control the sand. They were frightened; he's going to kill me with a sand storm! They thought.

But it was nothing like that. Sometimes, when you're absolutely feared by everyone else, and blood is all you take joy in, it gives you tons of time to observe the small simple things around you. And blood was technically the only thing that he took joy in, but well it was the only thing that he _showed _joy for. Hey, they wanted a demon, right? Well he gave them that demon.

Currently it had been almost a year, since his eyes had been opened by the other demon carrier. It was intense. He was slightly more…human. He said a few more words than usual after every response. He realized more about his siblings.

The thing most shocking to him that there was another like him. Well being a demon container. He wasn't really like him. But close. Close enough. He had it better though. No one his age, knew of the demon, but still there were many downfalls. He was still isolated. And fortunately for him, he had someone to acknowledge that. Gaara's case was sadly less fortunate, the person and guardian that he put his total trust in had, betrayed him, and been sent to end his life.

That was when it all happened.

That was when the kanji 'love' had been seared into his forehead with blinding pain. Love. It was the irony. The irony of his life. The one thing he lacked had been carved into his forehead shown to the world. Permanent for life.

The redhead let out a dry sigh and headed out into the sea of endless sands.

Till he was closely a mile out into the desert, he stopped. Looking like he was in the middle of nowhere. And in a way he was. No where to turn. Even though his eyes were opened, and he learned to cherish his siblings a bit more…still. Nothing much had really changed. All the emotions that he had lacked all these years were slowly pulsating out. Especially loneliness. But he forced it back, deep inside his empty self. He filled himself with loneliness.

Looking up, angry. He commanded a wave of sand to rise before him. And then it grew and writhed with life. And he controlled it. It swirled and swirled in random motions. Till it was finished, the sand hardened into rock. It was an oddity of a sculpture. Abstract you could say. Spikes and tentacles reached out in a random order. But beneath it all, unintended was a face. Stretched and ugly. A gaping mouth, a silent raw scream. A pair of eyes. Empty eye sockets that were wide in horror and pain. Eyes that were staring death straight in the eye.

Gaara, shook his head fiercely, angry with himself. 'What am I doing! I'm wasting my own time!'

And then more sand rose and 'froze' in chunks and pieces. They hurled themselves at the horror that he created. And slowly, grain by grain, it crumbled.

Then he resumed to a personal method of training that he had been working on it. Of course, no one knew about it. Not even his siblings. He rarely ever trained with them. In fact, he hardly ever saw them. Another realization came as he hardly knew who they were, or where they went. Missions; probably. But he never knew.

He resumed with his training. He had created many round sphere's of sand, hard and compacted with violent pressure. Then he rose them into the sky. All of them and then they 'floated' to different areas. And on a count…he let them all drop. All at once.

In a split second with sleepless eyes wide open; he drew spikes from the ground and speared as many falling balls of sand as he could. He used to only get half, but he was improving. Now he got at least three-fourth. The majority. But he wasn't satisfied at all. He imagined that someday, his own country would send an army after him. It had been attempted before. But only with lone assassins. It was a possibility. Maybe he was paranoid. He didn't really know the difference, all he knew was that he had to prepare.

He repeated the process. Each time, he hit a sphere; the immense pressure caused it to explode. And the impact of the two hard substances, caused miniature thunders to slice through the air.

And he did this more often. Deafening his ears.

Till one day he perfected it. Every single sphere crumbled and fell to the ground. That was the force of the hardened spikes. Imagine what it could do to a human body.

And he wanted to test it out, dearly. As a jounin, he was thankful that his missions were more….entertaining as you could say.

Soon, the Shikaku host was becoming…well…simply bored again. He thought about coming with new ways to train. But still he wanted to test them. He needed a perfect A class mission.

And he got it. Their 'relationship' with the sound ended abruptly. Their Kage was murdered, and well, that created some chaos. And it took some time to restore that 'peace' that the Sand possessed. Well, as much peace they could get.

Kankuro was to be the Kazekage, being the oldest brother. But Kankuro wasn't really the only one with the title 'kage' but Temari and Gaara, pretty much had the same power. Especially Gaara. But now he was bored out of his mind. The Shikaku had surfaced less and less. Thankfully. And instead of talking to the Shikaku, he was just…bored.

So his solution, was to take the mission. A high class A mission so to speak. It was usually the three of the siblings that were sent to do a mission _together. _ But this time, he requested it as a lone mission. And even if he didn't there was no way that the two other siblings who held the title "kage," were going to leave to go on a mission. All that work and time for the restored peace would've gone to waste.

They're best guess at the location of the sound was that they were somewhere near the Stone village. No doubt heavily guarded. But well, it was perfect to test it, in case of attack. Even though he was only sent to scout out for the exact location of the Sound Village. It was lethal enough itself. From all the meetings that he attended, the reputation of the ninja's of the sound were _monsters. _And what better place to test it? Himself being a demon, it might be fairly matched up. If it took another demon to beat him, then what would a village of monsters do?

_Two weeks later…_

Gaara's apathetic face, scanned around him as he entered the Stone village. There was no need to state any purposes, just identification. The kages of the stone were already alerted of Gaara's future presence.

He strode in nonchalantly, since when did life get so boring for him? Besides, he wasn't even permitted to kill anyone here. No matter how much he wanted to. That would do some serious damage to the Sand's reputation.

He no longer, wore the same outfit, and no longer wore his trade make gourd. His power had broadened to moving minerals with his natural ability. A thick beige scarf was wound around his neck, covering up to his mouth, revealing brilliant, but razor sharp aqua eyes to show. His legs were adorned with some plain black sweats, and he wore a standard long black sleeve shirt with netting over his arms. The sand ninja head protector has concealed in bag that he carried. He didn't look like a civilian but he didn't look _too _ out of the ordinary other than the vibrant red hair.

Wondering how long it would take him to find a decent hotel; he walking around at a leisurely pace for a couple of hours deeper into the bustling village. It was mid-noon, the hottest time of the day. He didn't seem to mind it. Neither did it seem to bother two dark figures eating outside of a dingy café. He was ten or so meters away, but he heard a familiar voice, emitting from the area that caught his eye. They looked suspicious but the voice coming from them seemed to be simply harmless. He stepped cautiously up the road. Something wasn't right. Those two seemed to be very out of the ordinary. Extraordinary, if you can say.

The two figures seemed to of a male and female. Both wore dark colors, the female was in an outfit of complete black, a sleeveless turtle neck and black sweats and bandages wrapped up to mid-calf. But that wasn't what was odd, she had bandages covering her face, revealing only one eye and the lower portion of her face; her mouth more specifically. The indication of smooth features under the mask, gave the impression of a pretty thin face. And the spectacularly pale blue iris that was revealed didn't help to go against his impression, nor the passer-bys. A few of them that were hurrying by on the side of the road close to the café glanced back at the seemingly 'couple.' The male, had…an oddly familiar aura of him, blonde hair swaying, as he talked and carried on conversation. He also wore black sweats in the same fashion as the female, but he bore a short sleeved shirt, that was black at the first glance, but turned out to be a dark crimson.

Then it hit him. The familiar aura, the blonde hair. Despite the changes in physical appearance there was no doubt about it. There was a demonic aura, incredibly faint. And the only reason the he probably sensed it was because of the Shikaku. He kept on walking slowly up the road, eyeing them carefully. And he found that the female noticed him too. From a distance he saw her whisper a word to the blonde. He turned around, and blue met green.

It was the Uzumaki.

Both eyes mirrored each other in their actions, as they widened. "Ga-Gaara!" The blond stuttered uncharacteristically; well then again from what he had gotten a glimpse of, the Uzumaki had changed.

The redhead lowered his head and closed his eyes in recognition, "Uzumaki." But when he raised his head, suspicion was written all over his usual apathetic face. "What are you doing here in the Stone? I thought your pride and joy lay in the Leaf."

He was surprised at the effect that that sentence had on the kyuubi holder. The bright blue orbs darkened and clouded over. "I could ask you the same thing." He replied, avoiding the question.

"Simple, I'm here on a mission. To…locate the sound more specifically."

Again, the blonde's eyes darkened even more. "The sound…I see." Menacing charka rose in the air; and surprisingly it was not just the Uzumaki's…the unknown female his right seemed to give it off too; and somehow…it seemed to be twice as deadly. The second that it appeared it vanished. The blonde's menacing charka pulsated in determination and angry…while the mysterious female's charka seemed to be seething with hate and bloodlust. Most frightful. But not to Gaara of course, it surprised him only, because, it mirrored his own charka, the way things were before…

Another thing about the charka caught his attention, it…had a twist to it…it felt very demonic also. The young sand shinobi's eyes narrowed again, though in his mind, he was in complete shock. 'C-Could it be?'

Seeing his shift in gaze, Naruto 'introduced' his female companion. "Gaara…meet…Nanashi. Nanashi…Gaara." It was rather awkward, but it sufficed, at least he knew her name now. "Of the sand." He added, expecting her to add to hers also.

She averted her gaze and added, "…of nowhere."

NARUTO

'Wow…I can't believe it. GAARA!...but I don't even know what to say to him really…not to mention the fight we had..well…THAT'S UNCOMFORTABLE. I don't' feel like trying to summon GammaBuntasp? just right now. And to locate the Sound…Orochimaru…' He boiled inside whenever he heard that name, but still, he boiled over more whenever he heard the younger Uchiha's name. He couldn't get over it. It was _his choice. _ But still Orochimaru had his fair share of hate from the Uzumaki too.

He looked up to the other 'demon.' "Well…then where are you headed to?" He asked…in a poor attempt to keep up conversation for…old time's sake? What old times?

The sand shinobi looked at him with blank eyes. "Finding a place to stay for the night."

Nanashi remained quiet, but the blonde looked up, and grinned. "I know of a place. I can show you there, if you want."

He saw his old encounter ponder the thought for a moment, then give a curt nod. "Yes, that would save me some trouble."

_Later that evening…_

Naruto and Nanashi shared a large branch, while she leaned against the ancient trunk; he lay down on the far end, kicking his feet occasionally from habit. Gaara was currently in his hotel room inside the village borders. "Gaara…I've heard of him. I've always thought that it was only a rumor though."

Naruto looked up from his current horizontal position, and gave a questioning look; "Heard what?"

The girl turned her elegant head toward him, "…he is the carrier of the Shikaku, isn't he?"

"Oh…yeah, he is."

It didn't show on her face, but Naruto saw it in her eyes…deep thoughts were swirling around in her mind. "Another demon…" She said finally…quietly in a whisper.

"…Just like us." Naruto finished for her.

**Author's notes:**

**Well, here it is. Hope it wasn't TOO BORING.**

**Thanks for the reviews and support! You guys rock. 3**


	14. CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Confidence

**Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, Sakura would've died long ago…**

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Confidence**

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE LAST CHAPTER:

_Naruto and Nanashi shared a large branch, while she leaned against the ancient trunk; he lay down on the far end, kicking his feet occasionally from habit. Gaara was currently in his hotel room inside the village borders. "Gaara…I've heard of him. I've always thought that it was only a rumor though."_

_Naruto looked up from his current horizontal position, and gave a questioning look; "Heard what?"_

_The girl turned her elegant head toward him, "…he is the carrier of the Shikaku, isn't he?"_

_"Oh…yeah, he is."_

_It didn't show on her face, but Naruto saw it in her eyes…deep thoughts were swirling around in her mind. "Another demon…" She said finally…quietly in a whisper._

_"…Just like us." Naruto finished for her. _

GAARA

The kazakge didn't know what to think at the moment. 'Naruto…?' he thought. That one name echoed in his mind. He was the deity that changed his life; and now that he was before him…well…he never knew him well, but he was sure he wasn't as self-composed before. Sure, he was still ecstatic about some things…he also showed the rage, that he had before; but he was different.

It was pure luck that he met him here. He'd said to himself that he'd keep an eye out for him…but this was an undeniable coincidence. The word had somehow gotten out from Konoha to the sand that their 'demon' had 'escaped'…that was about…a year ago? Right after the Uchiha attempted to leave he remembered. A year…

So much time has gone by…and he was still out here? No, he was _really **out here? **_Hard to believe. From the way he talked, his dreams; it was the last thing he expected from the ninja. But then again…Uzumaki Naruto was unpredictable; and proved their expectations wrong every time. What more surprises that he have up his sleeve? It was already more than enough that he was a demon too.

It gave him something to live for…in a way; to know that he was no longer purely alone in the world. Alone. That was what he emitted on the outside; but on the inside he was lonely. There's a vast difference between alone and loneliness.

He smiled.

He had no idea why he was, but he just did. For a quick moment; gone just as quickly as it had come. He closed his blackened eyes; but sleep taunted him for years, and it wasn't going to stop now.

NANASHI

Her eyes were closed as her irises glowed beneath. She tilted her head back in thought. 'Gaara Suna… The shikaku holder. I never thought that I'd be able to meet him.'

Her feet touched air as they hovered eerily above the ground, just barely so that her feet would only touch the tips of the stubbles of grass. There was a reason why she never left footprints. With a powerful leap she reached the top of the trees, fresh sunlight hit her back. Dawn had arrived. She turned and looked down on the small cottage that she has salvaged, in this simple solitude.

No, that wasn't right. She was no longer alone; her new companion occupied a warm bed inside. Whisked-faced and brilliance blonde head full of hair, Naruto laid snoring in his bed.

This was the longest time she had stayed in a place. She was…what you could call a nomad. Moving from place to place. Learning. Gathering information on her own, for no particular reason but herself. Running.

She let out an airy sigh. Days had passed by…months…and now almost a year. She couldn't even remember anything productive that she had done. Yet she seemed to have done so much this year. Ever since the blonde arrived, she was busy teaching him jutsu's, and using her skilled strategizing talents to wean him off his precious ramen instead of battle. At least it worked…well half way; he favored some foods OTHER than his ramen.

It had only been a year. It was a totally new experience for her. To have a companion. Well…not really, she had had them in the past…but…let's just say they weren't…as true to their word. Naruto felt like family…something that she hadn't had for years…ever since she was a toddler. She looked down again at the cottage. It was…Tuesday. An even day of the week, supposedly his turn to cook…or at least try to. She shook her head fondly from amusement.

'O well, maybe this time…' She leaped down and did a flip midway in her freefall; like a cat twisting in midair to land on their feet; effective and silent. From there she walked into the cottage, lit up the tiny stove, and soon the delicious smell of freshly cooked bacon, eggs and toast floated heavily around that tiny area. Just this once she thought again, she was feeling unusually gracious that day.

NARUTO

The kitsune indeed woke to the arousing scent of breakfast and with his senses heightened the scent smelled twice as tantalizing. He rose groggily from the bed, with the only intention of getting food.

He slid into the kitchen slowly, and hung at the entrance; giving the girl a huge but sleepy grin. He even looked drunk…in a too cute way. The girl gave a quick glance. "Awake, finally?"

Naruto frowned at that. "Finally? It's barely dawn!" He clambered in a half-awake/half-asleep run to the table. The food on the table looked like that it as to serve three people; but well, the Uzumaki has a huge appetite. Big surprise there. It also managed to make her grocery money triple.

With a scoff in reply she said; "Just be grateful…I cooked today."

The Uzumaki straightened up in his seat and shot her another huge fox-like grin. Sigh. Even though the kitsune was nearing his mid-teens, he could still look like a five-yr old giving a foolishly happy grin…not to mention also at the smallest things. "Thank YEWWWWWW."

And without another pause, he attacked his food. Well he didn't really attack it…just stabbed everything with his fork, then, down it went.

Nanashi had some eggs and a strip of bacon on her plate, while chewing on a piece of fried toast. Naruto on the other hand, had his plate piled high, barely any of the white of his plate was visible. His excuse: I'm a growing boy!

Nanashi simply gave him a look, then resumed eating her breakfast. The days were beginning to bore her, she started to remember another reason why she moved around constantly. "Eh, Naruto what do you feel like doing today?"

He looked up at her, a bit of egg clinging to his lip. "Train!"

The girl snorted. "Just because I still know some jutsu's doesn't mean that I can teach them to you, yet _learn_ them." The blonde pouted. "Well, we can still train _somehow_, it doesn't have to be learning new jutsu's. We can-

"I'm not sparing with you again." Nanashi stated, her final decision.

"Awww, but WHY!"

"We always spar, Naruto; aren't u bored by now?"

"The fights are always different! And are you saying you're getting bored of ME!"

"Maybe."

"HEY!"

"Besides, you said you wanted to help the Suna boy. Gaara didn't you?"

"Oh well, yeah…but, I don't know. Do you think we really should?"

Nanashi shrugged. "It was just him…but on a mission that important, I believe there may be many more joining him…some allies maybe?" She hinted at him.

The kitsune cocked his head. "I forgot about that!...you're probably right..." Then suddenly his head shot up, eys glinting with thought, " We'll just use Henge!"

The female cocked a pencil perfect eyebrow. "For…days?...Nonstop?"

Naruto looked at her accusingly, "You _know _ you can do it. I can do it too!" He bragged with pride. She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, you're probably capable of it…with that monstrous amount of charka you have…but…its just a huge waste of charka! What if we actually run into something? Even Orochimaru himself? What about his living lab rats? You barely beat the Uchiha boy from what you told me!"

Again the kitsune looked at her accusingly. "I've seen what the curse seal can do…but that was then. I've grown. I feel it. YOU'VE CAUSED IT. You should see that. Besides, I bet I can beat the _Uchiha_ fairly easily now, even WITH THAT BASTARD'S CURSE SEAL."

She looked into his eyes. They exerted so much confidence; probably too much. She was pretty sure that he was being overconfident, but…he_ had_ grown, she admitted. He was very gifted, and add that with some persistence and a lifetime of determination, he grew at a incredibly rapid pace…he _is_ a monster in those terms. Nanashi grudgingly gave in.

_END FLASHBACK_

NARUTO

The blonde sat in an oozing pile of happy. Though in the back of his mind he was worried about what Ino and Chouji were thinking at this very moment. Gaara and Nanashi were mulling over the possibility of staying in Konoha for a while with him.

He knew that they would, well more like hoped. And well, if they choose not to, he would beg them till they would. After all, he needed some support.

"Naruto---" Nanashi started.

"Stay." He interrupted her. Her eyes glowed with split surprise for a moment. "You guys have to stay here with me!"

The two dark figures shifted uncomfortably. "I don't think that we're wanted here, Naruto." Gaara replied.

"No one will know you're here! Commeee oooonnnnn. I _might kill Sasuke teme if you **donn't.**_" He interjected.

"You already saw him. And you didn't kill him."

"So? That might just be luck! You know how I am…uh…brash…and…stuff." He admitted stubbornly.

Gaara was a bit surprised. No one had ever begged him to _stay _before. It was always the opposite. He looked at Nanashi questionably. "Well…what harm would it do? …We can conceal ourselves easily."

If Naruto had ears and a tail; they would've perked up and wagged furiously at that hopeful statement. "Yeah yeah! It'd be really easy for you guys! It'd…be…like a vacation!"

Her eyes were cast to the city below; it didn't look like either of them won her over. Naruto pouted; "Fine, how about you stay here for a few nights and then take that time to think!"

With an airy sigh, she gave in, "Fine."

"YEA—OWW!" Naruto winced as he got slapped on the head.

"Idiot! Shut up! You're so loud! You're going to attract attention to us!"

"Ehhh…sorry."

"Shouldn't you show us where we're staying?" The redhead asked calmly.

"Yep! Follow me! You guys are going to stay at my old apartment!" With a flash of a bright grin, a blue glow, a raven took off into the night.

GAARA

He stepped softly across the average living room; exploring the innards with Nanashi following suit. "Ah…there are only two bedrooms."

"That idiot…" Nanashi commented. "Does he plan to put one of us on the couch?" They turned to the small tattered couch. 'How old is this stuff?' He asked himself. The Suna walked over and examined it, it looked practically ancient. Probably from that year of absence he took, but aside from that, there was still some considerable damage to it; rips and tears varying in sizes littered the surface, with cotton slowly finding its way out, looks like he stabbed kunai's into it. Frustration? Anger? Sadness? Maybe they were all the cause. This was familiar to what he did. Or reminded him of his own lonely childhood.

Silently destroying things. The likeness between them was practically frightening. He turned to his side, at the source of the sound. His female companion was standing in the tiny kitchen, searching through the cupboards, analyzing the amount of food left.

A question sparked in his head. 'What about _her?'_ Naruto was no longer that much of a mystery to him, but _she _was as mysterious as they came. He didn't know much about, in the short two months he had gotten to know her; but only bits and pieces of her personality, her habits, and tiny specks of her past. Yet she seemed to know so much about him. Odd. Who _is_ this person?

"Well there's nothing here really. I'm surprised that Naruto has barely anything in here. I would've expected so much trash and clutter."

"Mm." The sand ninja half grunted in response.

The female walked over to him, stared at the couch for a moment, and then plopped down. Reeking with boredom she asked, "So…what should we do?"

"Go out." He was in an almost entirely new place. It would be nice to explore.

Nanashi raised a delicate eyebrow. "But at this time of night, they'll hardly be any place open."

Gaara smirked, a precious rarity among them; "Does that really matter?"

Nanashi smirked back, "Guess not." She fluidly stood up from the couch and strode toward the door.

"Henge."

"Henge."

Two figures looked plain, but they're movements said otherwise. A man, and with what looked like his sister emerged. One had a head of auburn hair and the other had a head of dark chocolate brown.

NARUTO

He had left them just when they reached his apartment. He had been gone for a little over half an hour; his teammates might…well he didn't quite know what they would do. He just knew that he had been gone for too long.

He leapt from tree to tree with a well earned grace. He found his camp site after the second round of searching. 'Idiot…how could you forget?' He asked himself. On the highest branch that could support him, he peered down into the darkness, seeing nothing, he sensed two uneasy charka below. He sighed. He really didn't know what to do at this moment. They were still awake…should he say something to them? Or…just let it soak in?

Before he knew it, he woke up to sunrise. "Oh crap…when the hell did I fall asleep?" don't you just hate it when that happens?

He repeated the motion from last night and peered down. He saw a speck of gold, and tan. Ino and Chouji were on the ground. Apparently…chatting and eating roasted fish. Just as he realized that, the delicious scent of fish wafted into his nose. Food was always an incredibly high priority to him.

Practically drooling, he jumped from branch to branch till he finally touched the ground.

Ino let out a small gasp at his sudden presence. Chouji on the other hand, was just as shocked, but so much more manly, so no sound was made.

Awkwardness slithered into the air.

"Umm…hey…uh..Naruto?" Chouji spoke hesitantly, unsure of what to call him.

"Hey Chouji, Ino-chan. Chouji, call me Akihito still, alright?"

"Okay…Akihito." Ino replied softly.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "Ah, listen, before we talk…uh…can I have some fish? I'm so0o _hungry._"

Chouji smiled gratefully. The Naruto he knew always had food on his mind, even in a situation as this. "Here you go!" He said in an almost odd cheerful voice.

The kitsune took a grateful bit into the smoking fish. He never knew Ino had such a talent with food. He snickered for a moment to himself. 'She would be the perfect wife for Chouji just for that.'

His teammates looked over to him questionably. "Nothing. Hehe." Watching them pass each other odd looks, he sighed. "Just treat me like before. Like you did to Akihito. After all…I'm still the same person. It's just that I have a different name now…"

"More like now your _real name."_

"Aha….yeah…that too." The Uzumaki replied nervously his offended female teammate. Ino was scary sometimes. She reminded him of a certain old hag.

"…So what happened?" Chouji asked hesitantly.

"Um…chew...you see…munch" Naruto said between bites. For the next hour or so, he filled them in on his 'journey' with some parts left out respectively.

At his apartment

Gaara sat in a half dazed out state. That wasvhis version of sleeping. Nanashi sat hunched over the small rickety thing Naruto called a desk, studying various scrolls, she found in the shelves; she has already sorted through about 7 in the last 15 minutes; but that was only because all the jutsu's inside were very basic and practically common knowledge in the ninja world. She grew bored and restless, beside the fact that she had only slept for three hours. She peered over into the living room at the' day-dreaming' Gaara. Did he dream? She wondered absently. She felt a slight pity for him, it must be pure torture not to be able to rest, and that's what a shinobi needed most from all the things they go too. Despite their heightened abilities, they were still human, (well as human as they could be) and rest helped heal, both physically and mentally. The Shikaku holder had none. It was quite amazing that he was in the state he was in at the moment.

In the short two months together, they found bits and pieces of each other. When desires came into conversation, for once the Suna boy was completely honest, instead of usually saying that he needed to survive to act out the bloodlust, he simply realized that all he wanted was to rest. He discovered that he was _very_ drained…exhaustion racked his senses; he was eternally grateful for his absolute defense. Things might've been very different.

With her head balanced on an arm, she sighed and simply stated, "We need to get you some sort of sleeping jutsu."

Gaara shifted for a moment and grunted, "Yeah...that…would be nice."

Back to the Forest of Death

Ino raised a pencil perfect eyebrow, "So…just how strong _are you? _I mean if you can take_ Kakash, _who's a **jounin **and everything."

Naruto looks at her through carved slits, he'd finished eating, and…out of habit, he had his mask on. If they could see he blinked almost stupidly behind the mask. "Since when did I say I could take Kakashi? I said that I could take him without getting killed in the first 2 seconds. There's no way I can beat him yet, its Kakashi! He's a damned genius." He took time to mutter the last line.

Chouji was still in slight awe. "But…you can still give him a fight. Genins aren't able to do that. Man, who _is that Nanashi girl that you stayed with?_"

Naruto blinked apathetically beneath his mask. He knew of her past, but that was to remain private.

"Well…let's just say that she's a ninja that travels a lot?" He questioned himself. "Who's…from the Hidden Cloud."

"But she's so young! She's just about our age! How did she become a missing nin so early!" Ino exclaimed. She thought of herself, leaving Konoha, away from friends and family, left alone. It seemed quite a bit frightening.

Naruto replied quietly, "It's private, besides she has her own reasons."

"…Like you?" Chouji asked.

Naruto guiltily cast his eyes down. "Chouji…I'm sorry, please…I… I couldn't take it here anymore."

Chouji's eyes hardened, and for once, he looks dangerous. "That's not a good enough reason! You dream of being Hokage! …And even if you couldn't stand it here, than what hope do you have!...you also could've told us." The last line bitterly left his lips in a whisper.

Behind the mask, a sad smile showed. "No…I couldn't. It would've been just the same as with Sasuke. But I came back didn't I? There's no way that I would leave Konoha for good. You should know that!"

His friend looked down, anger dissipating. A small but sad smile lit across his chubby face. "Yeah…I guess."

Silence took over as three shinobi retreated into their thoughts. Naruto was the first recover of the three. With creaking knees he got up and stretched. It was close to mid-morning. If they stayed any longer they were bound to be discovered. "We should start moving. We have what we need already. If we start traveling at a consistent pace, I bet that we'd be able to reach the tower before dusk."

A frown graced Ino's features, "Yeah…I bet we could. But…don't you want to…see how many scrolls we can get?" She finished it with an eager smile.

Her two male teammates practically gaped at the lovely blonde's words. Naruto himself couldn't comprehend what Ino was saying. He thought that she was the type of girl who would want to avoid fights as much as possible, since they might mess up her hair or something; but now here she was suggesting that they search for more teams and fights.

"Ino…are you, okay?" Chouji asked tentatively.

The Yamanaka shot him a look. "Of course I'm fine…So how 'bout it?" She grinned confidently.

The two males look at each. Chouji looked as if he was considering the possibility, after all the adrenaline from the last fight hadn't completely wore off, he guess that was exactly what Ino was going through. The Akimichi smiled. "I'm good. Come on…Akihito."

A foxy grin spread across the kitsune's face. A little fun never hurt anyone. He looked down to Ino.

Ino looked up to him. Confused by his silence, she furrowed her brows. "Well what?"

"Well? Lead the way, Ino-chan. You're the one who wants this!" The Uzumaki replied teasingly.

With a quick pout in return, Ino smiled and dashed off.

INO

The adrenaline _was getting to her. _But for the most part, she was extremely proud of herself. Last time she took it, Neji's team was somewhat close to untouchable. She glowed with pride. And the more she glowed, the more she wanted to fight again; she wanted to put her skills to the test.

She looked behind her. Chouji and Naruto trailed behind her. She was happy to see that Chouji was grinning too, confidence was slowly finding its way to the underestimated ninja. It was good that some self-confidence found its way into her usually timid friend.

Ino was so happy, that she traveled at a much faster speed than she usually would. Emotions did that to you. But in the midst of her joy, she reminded herself to scan for charka signatures, she almost laughed at herself for how childish she was acting. It didn't matter for now. The competitive part in her silently told her pink-haired rival to stay cautious. In fact, she was actually looking forward to seeing them. She'd like to redo that match.

She silently wondered what would've happened if Naruto got placed with her and Chouji in the beginning. Or if she got placed with Sasuke and him. She shook her head. That would've been a disaster. The Uchiha was a long gone crush, and now she saw that her girlish fantasies were what that distracted her from advancing as a ninja. She was grateful that she had finally woke up, who knew where she would be if she was still pining after the cold Uchiha.

Interrupting her thoughts; she thought that she had sensed a pinprick of charka somewhere to her right. She stopped immediately. She tried to sense it again, but it went as quickly as it came. Ino looked back to here teammates, "Did you guys sense anything?"

She pointed toward the thicket of trees to her lower right. Chouji nodded briefly, "Yeah…I though I did…but now it's gone."

Naruto remained still, gazing off into the direction Ino pointed too. "…um…Akihito? What's going on?" He turned to face their teammate; he replied in a quiet voice, "You can't recognize an old friend's charka?"

Ino and Chouji look at each other confused. "What do you mean?" Chouji asked.

Naruto remained still and silent as a statue. "Team 7 has spotted us. They're heading in this direction."

**Author's Notes: I'm pretty sure some of you readers out there think I deserve to be shot. ;; but well, as for you others that have waited patiently and still review, I thank you very much! Btw to some of you that are confused…I changed the title to 'three' ravens… .;;; sorry about that.**


	15. Chapter Fifteen: Encounter

**Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto…Sakura would've died a long time ago…**

**Chapter Fifteen: Encounter**

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE LAST CHAPTER:

_Naruto remained still, gazing off into the direction Ino pointed too. "…um…Akihito? What's going on?" He turned to face their teammate; he replied in a quiet voice, "You can't recognize an old friend's charka?"_

_Ino and Chouji look at each other confused. "What do you mean?" Chouji asked. _

_Naruto remained still and silent as a statue. "Team 7 has spotted us. They're heading in this direction."_

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TOHRU

He had taken off a layer of bandages from his eyes. The chakra's became slightly clearer. Now, the way that Tohru's eyes worked was that he only saw the 'light' of charka. All the trees and plants gave off a faint dark blue color, then came the animals, which emitted a lighter shade of blue, then there was of course, people; they emitted the brightest shade of blue. And the brighter the shade, the more charka they had. The physical shape of an object was presently vague to him though.

They had been traveling for about an hour now, and still scroll-less. But up to now, he finally saw in the midst of blues, some small brighter shades of blue blobs moving to his left. They weren't close, but they weren't exactly that far either. Concealing their charka, Tohru told the remaining of team 7 of their presence.

He kind of wished that he didn't though, but it wouldn't have been any use; he already saw that the Uchiha had sensed them, somewhat. If only it was another team he thought…the chakra's were an azure blue…one was shining so brightly that it was almost white. He recognized that glow; it was the guy that he sat next to in the first test.

The masked blonde. The faint power emitting from him. Tohru didn't want to face them, in fact, if given any chance, he would avoid them. It wasn't that he was afraid. He was just being smart at this point. A feeling crept up his spine, telling him that the shining figure had the potential to take away their lives…that is, if he tried hard enough, well maybe not Sasuke but he, himself and Sakura were far more in danger. But now…it seemed that it was inevitable. The Uchiha was intent about the 'challenge' that was ahead. And he was incredibly stubborn, that arguing with him was like talking to a wall. At least they had the sharingan on their side. That was a huge plus.

INO

Her bright cerulean eyes gleamed with anticipation and shock. "Team 7? Really!" She almost squealed with joy. What luck! Just when she wanted to test herself against the pink-headed girl here she came!

She looked over at the other blonde, and her enthusiasm dropped. Naruto was silent as ever, she could almost feel the dread sliding off of him. Chouji on the other hand, didn't seem to really care, just as long as he got to test himself again was great!

"Um…Akihito…?" She asked concernedly. "Is everything alright?" She put the pieces together in her head and realized that he might not want to face the Uchiha or her pink-haired rival yet. "…We can find another team to fight."

The blank mask turned to face her. The tiniest of chills ran up her spine. 'Just like the silent ANBU from the hospital she thought.' Who would've that the, once, hyperactive blonde would give the same aura?

NARUTO

The blonde was feeling some mixed emotions at the moment. Anger, sadness, confusion, nervousness and most of all dread.

"No…its fine, Ino-Chan. I can see that you and Chouji really want to fight." Nonetheless he wasn't Uzumaki Naruto if he ran away.

"Are you sure?" His friends asked. He smiled, they were more friends than comrades to him.

"Yes. Besides, I'm pretty sure that you can handle Sakura, Ino. And Chouji, I'd love to see you kick the oh-so-great-prodigy Uchiha down on his ass. I'm actually pretty interested in their new teammate. The guy with the bandages over his eyes…You guys know anything about him?"

"Um…his name is Tohru! Yeah…and um…I remember Sakura saying something…about his eyes. I think that he's like Hinata. With their bloodline abilities." The Yamanaka hesistantly recalled.

Naruto's eyes widened. "He's a _HYUGA?" _ He asked shocked.

Her blonde hair glittered in sunlight as she shook her head at his reply. "No, no…I think she said that he was…like…some distant relative or something from them. They aren't exactly like the Hyuga…its different. She didn't say how, but they are."

The Uzumaki let out a sigh. There would be some complications. They were against not only the Sharingan but some form of the Byukagan also. Goddamn.

"Okay…there's no time to think up some sort of plan!" He declared. "Okay, I've fought both the Byukakgan and the bastard with Sharingan. Since you say that they're close or something like that, you can base them off of some things from Byukagan, it gives them a 360 degree view, so in other words he can see ALL around him. (he doesn't know about the blind spot) And as for the Sharingan, it can copy all of your jutsu's except for bloodline limits, and predict your movements. But Chouji you'll get an advantage because of your Baika no Jutsu. He may be able to predict your movements but you can enlarge your fist or something and cover more distance, got it?"

Chouji and Ino nodded feverishly, soaking up the information and shocked at how knowledgeable their teammate sounded. It almost felt like prep talk from their sensei, in a faint sense.

At the short talk, Ino decided to keep to the plan that was originally hatched to get Neji's team. She made two clones, one for greet them, and one to pretend as the original as she hid underground.

Chouji and Naruto turned to blink at each other.

SASUKE

Team 7 stopped about 15-20ft away from them, setting up their ambush. Observing their opponents, Sasuke came to the conclusion that they appeared to be resting, with, interestingly, Ino on the lookout.

The often sought after Uchiha, drew his brows together in concentration. It seemed odd that the blonde one seemed to be…so…nonchalant. Relaxed even. From the faint killing intent earlier he couldn't believe that that was the same person from the first test. Was there something going on? Did they _already know?_

The rush of air passed his face as he dodged a kunai, and confirmed his suspicions.

"Damn, you missed him." He heard the mysterious blonde telling the Akimichi. 'Was this a set-up!' He thought furiously to himself.

CHOUJI

"Yeah…I know." Sasuke's eyes widened as he was thrown into the air. The voice came from somewhere inevitably close to him. A hole was made in the ground from where Chouji appeared beneath him. His clone remained resting in the clearing with Naruto. Though caught by surprise, the dark genin, landed gracefully on his feet. His obsidian eyes narrowed as he was faced with the unwanted opponent. He was impressed and surprised that Chouji had actually caught him off guard, but no real interest was sparked.

But that was one edge Chouji would always have. His opponents would usually underestimate him. Much like the pair of infamous green beasts of Konoha. Much like how Naruto was viewed with his old bright orange suit. But in the end, such power was emitted from the underestimated. Don't judge a book by its cover.

Chouji stood tall, serious as ever. If not nervous, he had never felt such anticipation before. The Uchiha that stood before him was always the genius at the ninja academy. Always number one.

He would hope to at least get some recognition from this intimidating person. For now he observed the #1 rookie's face. It looked a bit surprised, and a little pissed off. No surprise there. In fact, aside from his usual looks, brooding, dark and uninterested, he always looked slightly annoyed at something. Probably at Naruto, but even though he wasn't here, it felt like he was _still _annoyed at him.

And that pissed Chouji off slightly. Naruto was a great person and an even better friend. He wasn't close to the Uchiha; he had nothing against him. But to betray Naruto was more than enough to give Chouji a reason to be angry with him.

With thoughts of almost losing his best friends, and almost even losing his own life, he didn't care much about the fact that the person who stood before him was a Konoha ninja. All the things he did couldn't be erased by that.

Anger bubbling up his veins, Chouji charged at the Uchiha. At the risk of their lives. Was it really worth it?

SAKURA

Like Sasuke, Sakura was also surprised, as they arrived, that her rival stood almost so enthusiastically, standing guard. Then again, she knew that she was strong. 'But not anymore…' she thought to herself with a smirk. Thinking back to the preliminary match more than a year ago. Had it been that long? She stood there gazing for a while; studying the pretty blonde. Something had changed about her. She couldn't really figure out what. Her stride, the way she walked. She looked tall and proud. Once again, she thought back to when she was young, how she wished to be just like Ino, to surpass her even. But once again, the preliminary match entered her mind. She smiled confidently to herself. 'No matter how proud you look, I caught up to you.' She thought.

As if she knew exactly where she was, Ino turned to look directly at Sakura. A broad grin graced her features at the sight of her.

"Hello, Sakura…it's been a while, neh?" And with that simple statement, she sent a kunai in her direction. Sakura stood still, in surprise, she followed the kunai with her eyes as it soared past her, it was obviously not aimed toward her.

Her quick mind clicked, as she saw a piece of thin string get cut, 5 ft behind her. 'A trap!' Her mind screamed at her. From her left a shower of throwing knives sped toward her. With wide eyes, Sakura dodged heatedly.

'HOW COULD SHE SEE ME? HOW COULD SHE HAVE KNOWN?' Questions were racing through her head. Then the only one most logical conclusion came up, there was no way she could've seen her, her back was facing her the whole entire time, unless she sensed her?… or…she was watching from somewhere else. That was a clone! When that dawned upon her, the green-eyed girl swiveled around, searching for the real Ino, and just in time to dodge the clone. With a stab to the back, she disappeared.

Smiling she quoted, "We aren't in the academy, anymore Ino." A soft thump was sounded behind her as Ino leaped down from a tree, kunai in each hand.

The blonde walked towards her, smirking. "Sharp as ever, forehead girl."

As a reflex, the bubble-gum haired girl shouted back, "Shut-up, Ino-Pig!"

They charged toward each other just like the fight before. Only this time, Sakura managed to stay clean and land a hit on Ino. The blue-eyed kunoichi kneeled onto the ground as a tiny trickle of blood ran down her chin.

"Looks like I'm stronger, Ino-pig."

But again to her surprise, Ino stood up and smirked confidently again. "I said, that you were sharp as ever didn't I?"

"But not sharp, enough." In that split second, Sakura found herself shoulder-high, buried in earth. With three Ino's facing her. The one with blood drying on her chin, disappearing in a puff of smoke. Two left.

The pretty blondes gave her an almost sadistic grin.

TOHRU

Tohru was currently frozen to his spot. Thinking furiously to try and come up with a plan. It seemed that the shining figure had chosen for him to be his opponent. 'Just my luck.' He thought to himself. As he approached, Tohru's brain was sending off signals in every direction to think of some sort of plan to fight the shinobi. Suddenly, the bright figure became dim, as he hid his charka. And from how dim it became, Tohru could tell that he was very skilled with hiding it.

'Crap. I hate migraines.' Were his only consoling thought as he took off a layer of bandages. The figure became considerably dim, almost to the point of a small animal. Silently thanking his eyes, Tohru could tell the difference from all the surrounding chakra's.

From the figures movements, Tohru smirked as he watched his opponent become confused.

NARUTO

Behind his mask, his brows furrowed, he moved silently from tree to tree with his charka hidden, he was supposed to be undetectable, yet the supposed 'blinded' genin below watched his every movement. A little scary…

Naruto frowned. Bandages on his eyes. Yet his head was clearly following him every time he moved. His frown grew deeper. 'Dammit, is it going to be almost exactly like what happened with Neji?' He thought with annoyance and alarm at the same time of losing his identity yet _again. _But he didn't know this guy, nor did he know him, so even if he could see his face, it wouldn't matter.

Naruto reverted to a completely different style than he had before, instead of attacking head on, he learned to observe his opponent. With a swift movement, he drew two kunai's and threw one directly at Tohru.

No surprise, he dodged perfectly. But the question was how? With the bandages over his eyes…how the hell could he freaking _see? _Naruto mused. He was testing to figure out how it was possible for the shinobi to see. In his fastest speed possible, he appeared on the tree behind him.

The masked shinobi smirked as the bandaged one's head jolted up with surprise. So he can _literally see me somehow? _ Does he also have a 360 degree of vision? He threw the remaining kunai in his hand and was satisfied that it took longer for him to dodge, also a tiny bit thankful. It would be hell to fight someone who could see all around him. Neji was hell of an opponent to fight. A damn pain in the ass.

He leapt from the tree and aimed a punch.

SASUKE

Sasuke's eyes widened as Chouji's series of furious assaults continued. It seemed personal somehow. With the fury burning in his eyes, the Uchiha knew that he must've done it somehow. But how could it be? He hardly even talked to him. Hell, he hardly talked to anyone much less Chouji. The person that he probably talked to on a regular daily basis, was his team, and the one he had talked to most…had left. A combination of pain, guilt, anger, and determination rose at the thought of his absent teammate. He had realized that he missed the blonde with some shock a while ago.

And with the rare sudden surge of emotion, he fought back Chouij's fierce assaults with his own. Though Chouji couldn't' match his speed, they both managed to land a hit on each other. Chouji's Baika no Jutsu, couldn't be predicted with the Sharingan, so his enlarged fist reached him. Both hits were pretty powerful as they both flew back. With another grunt of surprise, the Uchiha got up. It was extremely rare for him to get surprised, much less twice.

With amazing speed, the Uchiha punched Akimichi. Chouji flew back again, ready for Sasuke's following punch. Sasuke's fist met, the soft flesh of Chouji's enlarged body, already about to crush him flat. The human meat tank rushed in a furious flurry as Sasuke barely dodged.

As Chouji turned around and rushed again, Sasuke leaped up into a tree, smirking as he watched down below. And then without warning, Chouji "exploded" in size and actually came in contact with him.

Sasuke flipped midair and landed neatly sideways on a tree. Chouji finally stopped and shrunk back to his normal size, a few drops of sweat running down his face.

"I admit. I've underestimated you. You've gotten pretty far, Chouij."

In reply, CHouji glared up at him, leaped up and threw some kunai and shuriken at him. The Uchiha dodged effortlessly, Sharingan activated.

CHOUJI

His eyes widened, as he saw the Uchiha's eyes grow blood red. 'A-Amazing…the Sharingan.' He thought, just like…Naruto said.

He gawked as Sasuke landed silently on the ground, before he knew it, he was flying back from the impact of a kick and punch. 'Dammit. He's too fast!' CHouji thought. Well at least he learned one thing, if they were too fast, then _slow them down. _But the question was how? He had the advantage…Sharingan. The genius Uchiha had the advantage…as usual. If only he could, somehow, just hold him down! With a simple plan decided, Choui got into action.

He transformed into the human meat tank again and leaped into the air. Midway flip he shrunk back to his normal self, and with Baika no justu enlarged his foot. Sasuke dodged fluidly, and landed in another spot, doing some hand seals.

The Uchiha drew in a breath, and out came a huge ball of fire. Chouji's eyes widened as it hit him.

SASUKE

After performing the basic Uchiha jutsu, he smirked triumphantly and he hit his target, but his rare smirk turned into a frown as he saw no burnt Chouji. Flashing his Sharingan for a moment, he flew sideways as he processed that he got punched from his left side.

As soon as he recovered himself, he almost pouted as he saw on the spot where he was standing before was a hole…and Chouji next to it. Falling for it once was already once too many. 'Did I fall that far back?' He wondered, 'Or did Chouji get stronger? Was it both?' Questions were swimming in his mind, it wasn't a surprised they mostly surrounded the subject of power and strength.

He gritted his teeth and dashed to kick Chouji square in the jaw, his opponent flew high in the air, with Sasuke above him. He kicked his abdomen, and then punched him to the ground.

CHOUJI

A cloud of dust exploded in the air as Chouji fell hard. Silence ensued for a moment as Chouji lay still. Then he slowly got up with a grunt of pain, a small trickle of blood ran down his chin. The Akimichi shot another fearsome glare, before looking to the ground, shadows covering his eyes. Resentment clouded his eyes as he stared at the Uchiha.

"You. Its all because of you."

Sasuke blinked almost dumbly at the words that Chouji spoke, a subtle confusion surfaced on his face.

"Nothing even happened to you. You weren't even punished."

Sasuke still remained quiet. He caught on to the Akimichi's point. It was true. He didn't really get punished as a shinobi should be for an attempt of betrayal. He just got more attention instead, people watching over him silently, like he couldn't feel their stares, their indifference. But still, there was no way that Chouji could say that nothing ever happened to him. There was a reason that he was the _only _Uchiha here. The Sharingan flashed dangerously as his emotions heightened.

"It's all because of me?" He stated, a threat lingered.

"_Yes, _all because of _you._" Chouji raised his head, and somehow the shadows got even darker. "It's all BECAUSE OF YOU. WE RISKED OUR LIVES."

Sasuke was shocked into silence as he watched Chouji rushing at him. "Its all because of YOU. The strongest shinobi has never completely recovered! It's all because of YOU THAT THE BEST NINJA CHANGED. ITS ALL YOU!"

SASUKE

Sasuke got ready to block the humongous fist that came his way. But to both of their surprise, no impact came. He opened his eyes, to see a figure cloaked in black, and he would've immediately thought of his brother if it weren't for the height and pale blonde hair.

"W-What are you doing!" Chouji gasped frustratingly.

The masked figure stepped aside, and reached into his cloak. 'A weapon?' Sasuke thought.

But instead of a threat, the mysterious figure pulled out a scroll, with even more shock, the Uchiha realized that it was _his scroll. _They lost their scroll already? "There's no need. I've got the scroll, from the other guy. And besides, I've heard that the Uchiha here _has _a reason to be such a bastard. Being the only Uchiha and all…"

"Why are you defending him?" Chouji all but yelled.

"I'm not. He may be the only Uchiha, but still. He doesn't have any right to take it out on _us._"

The dark shinobi never exited the surprise he felt, till anger exploded within him. He didn't even know him! Yet how could he analyze him! He had no damn right to! "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?"

He almost cringed as the mask turned to him, it felt too cold, too blank. Silence was his answer. His anger twisted into rage as he powered up the Chidori. Who ever the hell this was, he was annoying the shit out of him right now.

He smirked as blood hit the ground. He had hit right one target.

Before Chouji even had a chance to yell, a voice called him instead. "Chouji! Let's go. We need to go get Ino."

The bloodied person before him disappeared in a cloud of smoke. 'A CLONE!' The Uchiha thought furiously.

His attention was averted to top of the trees, an exact copy of the masked blonde stood high staring down at him. His opponent nodded and sped off.

The Uchihah stood, completely dumbfounded. He had been tricked twice, insulted, blamed and made a fool of all at once. He sunk to his knees and gave a powerful punch to the ground, dirt and rock all flew up the same. A faint cry of Ino was heard.

"Sasuke-Kun!" A male voice intruding his speeding thoughts. "They got the-

"I know." Sasuke stood up with a groan. For once, the Uchiha was feeling tired, drained even. What a day.

"Sasuke-Kun!" Soon another shrill female voice interjected. Sakura came running covered in dirt. Sasuke looked over his teammates. Tohru was clutching his head, and his bandages looked like they were hurriedly put on, so that meant he had to take them off before. It also looked like a bruise was forming on his cheek.

Sakura on the other hand had a minor cut on her face, and as for the covered in dirt part, he had no idea what could've happened. It's common for a ninja to get dirty, but to be _completely _covered in dirt? The Uchiha cocked an eyebrow, "What happened to you two?"

Sakura looked down and replied embarrassedly, "Nothing at all, Sasuke-Kun."

Tohru eyed him, or at least, Sasuke assumed he was 'looking' at him. With those bandages on, who actually knew? "I was right."

Sakura and Sasuke both looked at him curiously. "Right?"

"About the blonde. My feeling during the first part of the exam…we need to stay away from him. We shouldn't have approached him. He's strong. And fast."

The Uchiha looked down; he was practically shaking from anger. 'Who the HELL IS HE!' He yelled in his head, but in the very back of his mind, in that constantly looked over dark little corner, the suspicion accelerated…could it be?...Naruto?

NARUTO

"You guys having fun?" Naruto smirked at his friends under his mask. The three were pretty much blurs traveling through the tops of trees right now.

Chouji remained quiet, but Ino smiled happily and exclaimed, "YEAH! This is actually pretty fun!"

"Ah…Chouji. You should try to keep it down, eh?" Naruto glanced at his childhood friend.

Chouji glanced back guiltily at him, "Yeah…"

Ino looked over at the both of them, obviously confused. "Hey, what are you talking about?"

"Ah, Chouji was being really loud in his…fight?"

Ino looked at Chouji with curious blue eyes, "Who did you fight, Chouji? I want to know!" Her cheery tone even managed to seep into almost every word. It was kind of scaring Chouji with how happy she was.

"…Sasuke." He blurted out, and almost immediately blocked himself with his arms.

Her reaction was the complete polar opposite of what he was expecting. "Eh! REALLY! WOW, CHOUJI DID YOU GET HIM!"

Chouji peeked from under his arms, eyes wide, "..What?"

Ino repeatedly herself ecstatically, "Did you get him Chouji!"

"Ah, I punched him?"

"EH? Wow, that's great, you've gotten so much better!" She grinned boyishly at him.

Chouji grinned sheepishly and practically blushed, "Heh, thanks."

"He didn't only punch him, he fooled that bastard twice _AND told him off!" _Naruto interrupted. Ino wasn't the only one proud of Chouji's growth.

The Yamanaka swiveled her head, leaped next to Chouji and slapped him on the back.

"Gah! What! I thought you didn't care!" Chouji yelled frightened.

She frowned, "Did I hit too hard? Besides, I _don't' care. _I was going to say that's even better…before you started yelling."

Chouji stopped his defensive stance and stared blankly at her. "Ino, are you _really okay? _You've been acting really weird lately!"

Naruto smiled as he leaped ahead and looked back at them bickering together playfully. 'This is nice...' he thought. It was almost peaceful…

'Yep, this was the way it should've been.'

**Author's Notes: Ah, thank you, you lovely reviewers! D Haha, I can't believe there are some people who actually want to see Sasuke pulverized by Naruto besides me! D well, here's your "action chapter" and don't' worry, Naruto and Sasuke's showdown…will be bigger and more intense (and maybe even more humiliating hehe)**

**Thanks for the support! its cause of you guys that I'm actually sticking to this! **


	16. Chapter Sixteen: Can’t think of a title

**Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto…Sakura would've died a long time ago…**

**Chapter Sixteen: Can't think of a title. UU**

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE LAST CHAPTER:

_Naruto smiled as he leaped ahead and looked back at them bickering together playfully. 'This is nice...' he thought. It was almost peaceful…_

_'Yep, this was the way it should've been.'_

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GAARA

Gaara groaned. He was tired. He was sore from lack of sleep. It may seem ridiculous that the fearsome Gaara was just sore from lack of sleep, but well he had more to deal with than normal people. The only thing that held the demon back from consuming him entirely was his own will of steel. But sadly his iron will was slowly rusting away. It had been too long. He was too worn from fighting the battle within.

He was all the more thankfully that he stood under a nice cool shade on this warm Konoha day. Somewhere in the forest…doing practically nothing.

"You're a bored person aren't you?" The smooth voice came from above. Nanashi. She was the closest thing to becoming a friend to him, much less talk to him so casually. He was still adjusting to it.

Clueless as to how to reply to that, he simply snorted.

"Hm." Was his simple reply.

He looked up to see her dark charka glow. If he had eyebrows he would've squeezed them together to form some remotely close to interest and curiosity. He squinted above. "It'll come in handy if we all master it." She said simply from feeling his gaze.

His subtle expression changed from curiosity to utter confusion, and the missing nin leaped down and punched a hole into the tree, then seemingly dug out all the splintered pieces from inside. Yes, he was confused.

After a minute or so of watching her charka glow, he was surprised to see a tangled knot of delicate branches replace the hole. A drop of sweat slid down her face and she gave him a disgruntled smirk.

"Che, this might take longer than I thought it would." She returned back to repair the knotted tangle of branches.

After giving him a glance she said curtly, "Why don't you give it a try instead of looking? Quite the fearsome demon, aren't you?"

After stiffening quite a bit, Gaara sent a death glare that most people who shrivel away under, but he became increasingly frustrated seeing that she was unfazed, so he reluctantly stalked over. Hey, he had to eventually admit, it was better than feeling the throbbing soreness worsen.

NARUTO

He was happy to note the difference from the last chuunin exam. He also noted that they had three scrolls. He was also pretty high on himself, much like his teammates, his boisterous personality returned.

"Hahhh! We beat all of their asses didn't we?" He exclaimed, almost drunkenly. As if for emphasis, he flipped in the air and landed on the next few branches.

Naruto grinned widely as he thought that all the pain and suffering was worth it. The glorious feeling of a happy ending though temporary washed over him. The incredibly harsh mental and physical training he had put himself through, was finally there for him to take note of it. But…he thought, there are always stronger people out there…he mildly wondered about Sasuke and Orochimaru and darkened immediately,he quickly hid the thought as he heard his teammates laughter ring out with glee.

The three leapt on, all too happy to notice three more menacing signs of chakra up ahead.

Up ahead, the three owners of the menacing chakra were no where near as happy or high on themselves as they're approaching targets were.

"They're coming." One said.

"Get ready."

In no more less than 15 minutes, Naruto finally noticed something was awry. Snapping out of his cheerfulness, told the team to stop. Something definitely felt wrong.

And that was immediately confirmed as root shot up from the ground and bound Ino and Chouji. Naruto narrowly escaped due his fast reaction speed. His body reacted even before his mind could process exactly what was happening. His first focus was finding who was setting these traps. The quicker he found out where they were the better. He created two clones, to begin hacking at the roots binding his teammates. Then another two to scout for back up reasons.

That was when mist started to crawl on the floor. Alarms went off in his head as this immediately reminded him of the inicident in the Wave country, the demon Zabuza and even more so talented, Haku. Mist ninja. Thinking of the two, was a precious memory, and a mix of emotions that wouldn't help him in the heat of battle. Try to shake it off and regain a sense of calm, Naruto crouched instincts and senses alive and alert.

And to his surprise he didn't hear footsteps, he heard the ground. The ground beneath him was trembling and writhing. Eyes wide he sprang upward just in time to avoid a tangled mess a roots hunting for him. It looked look one of those pesky tracking jutsu's that wouldn't cease until it caught its target or unless to user quit the jutsu.

Naruto's conclusion: screw up the user. He didn't want to try to deal with the roots, consuming. He could try burning them, but he had a feeling they would just form again and he'd be back to square one. He could try dodging them forever…but…well that was just plain stupid. Assuming he was right and that it was a tracking jutsu, he yelled to his teammates, "if you get free, never stop moving!"

Then due to his super ninja hearing, he heard a light scoff somewhere far off into the mist. He didn't know whether to take that as a good sign or not. Whether they were scoffing as in "damn, He figured it out," or "idiot, that won't help," Naruto couldn't tell, but that scoff was all that he needed to pinpoint they're location.

But he frowned as he discovered that the user was also in a tree. It was half genjustu/ninjutsu…or something. Naruto didn't really know. All he knew was that he had to flush him out. And as any ninja who inherited the will of fire, the Uzumaki did the most logical thing. He spit a fire at him.

But the expected result of a flaming ninja leaping out of the tree, didn't meet Naruto's eyes. Instead the ninja disappeared. Wrought with a minute of confusion and panic, he suddenly found himself flying backwards as a perfectly timed kick was aimed at his abdomen.

Kneeling on the floor, with an arm hugging protectively over his stomach, Naruto grunted the most intelligible thing that ran through his mind.

"…ow." Then he glared up at whoever managed to catch him in the moment he was vulnerable. It was already enough they were mist ninja, but now he actually got kicked by one. Naruto grinned bitterly at the irony, an image of zabuza flashed through his mind. If his opponent was also shirtless and carried around big ugly sword, he was going to freak.

Well maybe not. But the sheer irony of that might have been too much to take. As he glanced up, is opponent, now identified as "tall, dark figure," disappearing.

Still kneeling on the floor, Naruto groaned again for good measure, pretending to be far more damaged than he really was. The kick was pretty powerful, but it wasn't anything that he couldn't throw back with his own strength. He began searching with some of his well-hones senses.

With his incredible nose, he detected the very faint scent of sweat.

The tips of his finger tips on the ground felt a whisper of a tremor snaking up from behind him.

His ears caught the fleeting sounds of fingers forming seals.

The hairs on the back of his neck rose as a chill crawled into the air.

Naruto frowned. He hoped that it wasn't ice needles. Those were a pain. Simultaneous images of Haku flashes through his mind. He frowned. He wondered if he could match his speed someday. Beat the gift of bloodlines that people possessed.

But before he had more time to ponder he sprang high into the air, performing a back flip as an ice or water jutsu missed him down below. Flipping to where his opponent stood, five clones appeared next to him and they formed an circle, ending with the tiger seal, balls of fire streaming out their mouths. Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu. A basic fire jutsu supposedly unique to the Uchiha clan. What a load of bullshit! Naruto grinned fiercely at the thought of throwing this back at the Uchiha. But he would save those thoughts for later. Right now he was concentrating on exactly how his opponent was not a crisp and smoking on the ground. In fact, they were no where to be seen. The Uzumaki landed on the ground silently. This was starting to get annoying. His opponent kept disappearing. But thankfully to all his fire jutsu's so did the mist.

So he did the most logical thing. Naruto started walking away. He really didn't feel like chasing anybody.

But within every step he took. Something felt wrong. Something felt very out of place. A little corner of his mind was screaming it, but he couldn't catch it. A tingling sensation started crawling up his neck, and hairs stood on an end again.

That when it finally hit him. Naruto could've smacked himself for being so blind to miss it and let some of his pride get in the way from that kick.

Standing still he formed a single seal.

"KAI!" He yelled. release and let chakra flow freely around him and through his body, concentrating with all his might. Genjutsu was never much of his thing, but thanks to being a temporary missing nin, he learned a few tricks.

When he opened his eyes, his irises had a tint of red to them, as he realized that he overdid it a little. But he smirked, making himself seem even more demonic as his surroundings had somehow gained a more realistic feel to them. "Heh." He grunted, satisfied at the small victory. Scanning his surroundings, he grinned as a newfound vigor got hold of his spirit.

But then as he sensed his opponent, he frowned again. The bastard was underground. His opponents seem to have quite a wide range of jutsus in their hand. A combination of earth and water-based jutsus…

Frowning a little more, he performed a few sealed and prayed that it'd work.

"Doton: Koudo genkotsu!" earth type: earth fist

A huge muddy tentacle of earth snaked from the ground and hit a tree with thundering force. The Uzumaki almost gave a pat on the back to finding a new purpose to the earth fist jutsu. Naruto walked gingerly to where the jutsu hit, and saw a dirt covered figure against the tree. It groaned.

Drawing out a kunai just for good measure and just in case he tried to pull something, the blonde stood before the ninja, and asked bluntly.

"Where's the scroll?" His answer was silence.

"Then I'll just search you myself."

"We…don't have a scroll." Naruto grunted with surprise and irritation.

He leaned down. "Name?"

"Nakashima…Shun." Straightening himself to an upright position, Naruto rummaged beneath his cloak and pockets.

"Well, Nakashima, for your sake you better promise to make it to the third test."

The figure was left leaning against the tree. Alone and covered in dirt. Before he feared that the cloaked blonde would kill him. But he left him wide-eyed with curious thoughts that trailed him, and he fingered a fresh scroll in his hand.

**Author's Notes:**

**AH! SHORTNESS! I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY! bows down to readers**

**I promise to have the next one up quicker…again I'm sorry for these huge gaps. …**

**Would anyone like to pre-read future chapters for me and proofread them? It'd be wonderful. Just email me and I'll pick two of you randomly. :D**

**And btw, I got hit by a mean streak of boredom and drew http:X/X/Xphotobucket.Xcom/Xalbums/Xv647X/sil3ntxspiritX?actionview¤tILRAch1pg1C.jpg; take out all the "X's " though yeah..sorry about that.  
**

** …yes I was actually insane enough to think about drawing out the whole fanfic. Continuation? Share your thoughts on your review about me turning this into some sort of doujinshin. thank you and sorry!**


	17. Chapter Seventeen: a quick hello

**Disclaimer: Do i look like Kishimoto to you?**

**Chapter Seventeen: a quick hello**

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE LAST CHAPTER:

_"Nakashima...Shun." Straightening him to an upright position, Naruto rummages beneath his cloak and pockets._

_"Well, Nakashima, for you sake you better promise to make it to the third test."_

_The figure was left leaning against the tree. Alone and coverd in dirt. Before he feared the cloaked blonde would kill him. But he left him wide-eyed with curious thoughs that trailed him, as he fingered a fresh scroll in his hand._

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INO

"You...WHAT?" The pretty konouchi was sending her anger in waves toward her teammate.

Naruto crouched low, as if trying to shrink into nothingness. With a sudden jolt of bravery, he attempted to calm her down, though with the necessay precautions of guarding his head with his arms; "But we still have the two scrolls, Ino!"

The Yamanaka remained silent, well aware of the logic in his words, but continued to glare at him for good measure. With a furious sigh, she shook her head, and resorted to calling him a moron repeatedly.

Cooling down slightly she replied, "Ah...yeah, I guess. You're still an idiot though...What if they don't even make it to the third test?"

Naruto blinked dumbly behind his mask, "Of course they'll make it. They're not that bad. They're pretty good actually. ..But...we're better." He finished with the familiar air of supreme male authority. Rolling her eyes, Ino didn't even bother to dignify him with a response.

CHOUJI

Chouji remained on the sidelines, looking back and forth at the two like a tennis match. In his current state he was quite content, and amused by his more stimulated teammates. However the small smile on his face fell, as the two arguing reminded him of the way Ino used to argue with Shikamaru too. Shikamaru considerably argued with less zeal than Naruto had, as expected.

Shikamaru. His best friend. He was having fun of course, but one couldn't but miss their best friend. Not that he preferred Shikamaru over Naruto, it was just that...they were incredibly different...that's all. Where as Shikamaru was a fricking genius...Naruto wasn't the sharpest around. And where as Naruto, was practically overflowing with energy and excitement to spend, Shikamaru was...well plainly, lazy as can be. Their strongest qualities clashed horribly, but it was made them _them _at the same time.

The three continued on lazily almost, just as the faint sound of running water drifted by Chouji's ears.

By a few minutes later, ten fishes were roasting in the fire, and two teenage boys were busily drooling, as they had already finished one already. Ino was perched high up on a huge slab of rock, and daintily ate her two freshly cooked fish. After she finished she took to giving off a peaceful look and gazed at the scenery around her. She didn't even do as much as flinch when sounds of gagging and panicked croaking were heard. No doubt they were competing with each other to see who would finish first...and in their well-played enthusiasm, happened to forget about the numerous amount of tiny fish bones...well boys be boys.

The girl let out a sigh. Two small shadows drifted serenely over her as two ravens glided past her...surprising close to the ground. Ino blinked. Stared. And then merely blinked again. The dark birds looked magnificent as they perched on a piece of driftwood that was caught between a few stones. They were huge...no surprise though. all the animals were huge in here. Upon closer inspection, Ino's bright eyes widened as the in took the gaze of the oddly colored eyes of the birds. She slid off her rock as slowly as possible, and crept slowly toward them, not wanted to alarm the feathered duo. They stared at her, and the smaller of the two cocked its head almost thoughtfully at her. As if studying her the same was she was studying them. With a sudden movement it spread its huge wings and glided off, leaving its companion looking rather flustered on the river.

Spinning wildly to watch the bird, Ino managed to catch a glimpse of its jeweled eyes. They were ablaze with an icy blue, flashing colors as the sunlight hit them. Then for an awkward moment, Ino's blond head whipped back and forth not knowing which raven was worth to stare at more. But she was relieved of the decision as the other raven floated past her. Another glimpse. Her first thought that it was also blue, but it was it carried a tinge of green to create a liquid aqua. She wondered absentmindedly if all the ravens here had such light colored eyes. She also noted absentmindedly that she never knew ravens were so pretty. Maybe not all the creatures in here were so dangerous after all.

With her eyes following the bird, her eyes widened as what happened in the very next moment. The black aqua-eyed bird flew directly over Naruto who was currently engaged in a heated argument with Chouji, and let its talons collide with his head. Ino got the faint image of someone kicking the blonde, and her lips immediately curved upward in amusement and began to laugh at the utterly shocked blonde. Scratch the part about them not being dangerous, but hell, that was hilarious. She even continued to laugh as Naruto recovered and ran off half attempting to chase the bird and yelling obscenities at the airborne creature.

Recovering from her fit, the kunoichi retorted to Naruto, "Neh, that's what you get for being a moron and giving away our scroll!"

Replying with a good glare and a slight pout Naruto tied his mask back in place. He thought darkly about strangling a certain redhead.

**Author's Note:**

**Well, we meet again. I looked at the date I published this and realized its almost been two years. Good God. This is probably the longest commitment ever.. No, wait. IS. yes, well seeing as how i started this so long ago, and how i updated so long ago, i feel that i owe an explanation for this fanfiction that has been on such a long hiatus. Sorry, about that, but almost 2 years, as the author, there are many little odds and ends to this story that drive me mad, don't make any sense and could be MUCH MUCH BETTER. so, i find it hard to continue something i find so flawed. Good news though (Or not, however you look at it) i plan on rewriting this. **

**Oh and i might draw this piece of fan literature out. Seriously. More Info, on the next update. For the shortness, my apologies again, but it's been quite a while, i've practically forgotten all that i've written.**

**Reviews are always encouraging. Thank you for your patience. **


	18. Chapter EIGHTEEN: You're back

**Disclaimer: Do i look like Kishimoto to you?**

**Chapter Eighteen: You're back.**

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE LAST CHAPTER:

With her eyes following the bird, her eyes widened as what happened in the very next moment. The black aqua-eyed bird flew directly over Naruto who was currently engaged in a heated argument with Chouji, and let its talons collide with his head. Ino got the faint image of someone kicking the blonde, and her lips immediately curved upward in amusement and began to laugh at the utterly shocked blonde. Scratch the part about them not being dangerous, but hell, that was hilarious. She even continued to laugh as Naruto recovered and ran off half attempting to chase the bird and yelling obscenities at the airborne creature.

Recovering from her fit, the kunoichi retorted to Naruto, "Neh, that's what you get for being a moron and giving away our scroll!"

Replying with a good glare and a slight pout Naruto tied his mask back in place. He thought darkly about strangling a certain redhead.

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Naruto leapt into the air, wind rushing past his eyes and flipped all the way around in a complete 360. The blood didn't even have a chance to rush to his head. The adrenaline rush was long gone, and now the trio was back to a quiet contemplative state. The masked blonde twitched his head back now and then, looking for traces of two avian black birds. Feeling the specific area where the dark talons collided with his head, he grumbled to himself.

They eventually slowed down to a steady walk pace. There really was no hurry; after all, they already had in hand the two scrolls they needed to pass the test. Glancing up toward the sky, they confirmed that they were heading in the right direction toward the tower.

"Neh, let's start running again," Ino spoke.

Under the mask, the whiskered blonde raised a not so delicate eyebrow. Chouji managed to voice his question before him though. A rare occurrence. But nonetheless happened once in a while.

"What's the hurry?" There was a small pang in the Akimichi boy's stomach that would eventually affect his mind.

The girl shrugged indifferently. "It'd be nice to get it over with don't you think?" Her two teammates looked at each other, and exchanged shrugs, and before they got a chance to reply, Ino flew into a sprint and called back to them. "Well, then let's go!"

As the tower finally came in sight, Naruto's senses felt the slightest fogged up feeling, like a thin layer of obscuring mist covered him. Genjutsu? Most likely. No surprise there though. Naruto shrugged, and let out a sigh. Genjutsu was never his strongest area; he didn't possess the patience or character to master it. Slowing down to stop, his teammates glanced at him, looking for verification if that the feeling they received that something was ever so slightly "off" was a man made result.

"How do we get rid of it?" Ino all but, demanded.

In answer Naruto bent over a bit, emitted an incoherent growl, formed a single seal, and exploded in chakra. His teammates jumped at the outburst of hot energy. As thin streams of heat escaped the ground, he blinked, and almost instantaneously grinned sheepishly while rubbing the back of his neck.

"Hah…I..kinda over did it. But..the main point is that you need to jolt your chakra flow! Like…wake it up, I guess." He offered his feeble explanation to his teammates.

Ino, stood wide-eyed and stared a bit. "_Wake it up? **That's **waking it up?" _

Seeking to redeem himself in a flurry or wide flinging arm gestures, Naruto refuted, "No! No. No. I...just over did it…You just need to erupt the flow of your chakra! Just build up an amount of chakra…and...um just let it all go at once."

Chouji and Ino glanced each uncertainly, then mimicked the same seal and drew in their chakra, and as expected none of their results was as dramatic, but Chouji's expulsion of chakra gave a most interesting form of incredibly faint wings.

Naruto mildly wondered if his chakra took the form of Kyuubi or something, and shuddered at the thought. Shaking off the thought, he did a slow 360 and blinked.

Everything…_felt _normal…he...guessed. Not entirely sure if the realistic feel of everything was due to his mind...or...reality. He frowned at the thought.

Apparently he was right, as Ino happily exclaimed, "Hey, it _worked!" _Chouji's reaction was a bit closer to Naruto's.

"Heh…Things do look _sort of _clearer." The Akimichi glanced around tentatively at his surroundings.

Naruto couldn't help but smile and be pleased with himself. It felt very cool to be on the side that gave instead of his usual receiving side.

"Great! Now let's go!" The masked shinobi continued on, leaving a stunned Chouji and a happy Ino behind.

"Oy! Idiot! WAIT UP!" I don't even need to tell you who said that. Well, at least, I hope not.

The next few hours that passes were…surprisingly boring. As they neared the tower, Naruto sensed numerous chakra signatures, and didn't know whether to frown or let out a sigh of relief as none of them decided to approach them.

The sharp click of their heels echoed in the stony architecture of the tower. Crouching down, Naruto decided to bluntly sit on the floor, just for the sake of nothing better to do. He watched quietly as Chouji and Ino stood ahead of him and opened the scrolls, with his current and more like permanent state of short attention span, the cloaked genin was already bored out of his mind, waiting for the summoned ninja to greet them, but to his surprise, nothing happened. He was greeted with the stares of his teammates.

" Get up, we need to solve this thing." Confused, Naruto complied to Chouji's request.

"Eh? What're you talking about?" He looked over his teammates' shoulders and glanced at the scroll. It…was apparently filled with some sort of riddle. Dread immediately fell hard as a stone into his stomach.

He hated riddles.

You can't honestly say you were surprised, can you? Groaning loudly, he stumbled back and resumed his earlier position.

"-Akihito!" Ino hesitated, almost saying his true name, but scolded him all the same. "We're a team! You need to help us!"

Now assuming a extreme Shikamaru lazy pose, the masked blonde lay limply on the ground, and waved a hand jerkily, as if to shoo away some pesky mosquito. "Ah…you guys can handle it! I'm sure!"

Both his teammates frowned at each other, and proceeded to tower over his limp form.

"The stones of a mountain

The base as important as the stones at the top."

Still on the ground, he half-heartedly paid attention, but was thankful for how short it was. "That's it?"

"…Yeah."

A few moments of contemplative silence passed. Ino stood stock silent, thin eyebrows furrowed in thought. Chouji shifted his weight from leg to leg. Naruto…just laid there.

Chouji continued to shift his weight, pondering what the hell it meant, till a thought hit him, looking up with bright eyes he slowly repeated the sentence and inserted his answer.

"I think it's talking about the village. And… everyone in it."

Like a catalyst reaction, Ino's head snapped up. "Ah! It makes sense! The mountain means the village! And as for the stones, its all the villagers and us! Chouji! You did it!" The female flashed a brilliant smile at him and pumped a fist in the air.

Chouji smiled, proud at himself, then pondered a little further the little riddle left, as Ino read further on the instructions. '_The base as important as the stones at the top.' _This was something that never really occurred to Chouji, but it made sense in his head. Everyone in this village makes it up, if you took away the top…which was probably the Hokage…then…the moutain…wouldn't reach it's "height" and the village would be left in chaos. And…if you took away the bottom, or the 'common villagers' themselves…the mountain itself would collapse, for what is a village if there were no people?

Staring absently while thinking, Chouji took notice of the figure under him, still and unmoving. That's when he heard it. Deep breaths could be heard through the mask, and the realization hit him like a ton of bricks.

The idiot fell asleep!

Grunting in slight irritation, the Akimichi lowered himself into a crouch, and settled for poking his fellow teammate harshly in the arm. "Oy, wake up! We solved the riddle!"

Incoherent mumblings wafted from unseen lips. Chouji choked back a chuckle, the mask was so serious, yet the wearer wasn't anything remotely close to it, and the incoherent nose just seem to make it all the funnier. In amusement, he stood up, and decided to nudge his teammate with the edge of his dirt-covered sandal. What happened next, Chouji was sure to say that he did not expect it.

A sharp gasp escaped the blonde as he bolted upright onto his two feet. "I'm awake! I'm awake!" For a second, Chouji stared wide-eyed at the strong reaction and behind the mask, Naruto blinked stupidly. His straight posture, suddenly melted as he looked around himself, realizing where he was at the moment.

"Ah mannn, what happened? Geez…what'd you wake me up for?"

Chouji inclined his head in the direction of a crouched Ino, muttering to herself. "Solved the thing."

"Ah, already? That was fast!" The two walked over, as their female comrade explained what was to be done.

" W have to summon them manually ourselves as a team and tell them our answer."

They blinked, Naruto groaned again. "Then let's just get through this!"

After a few moments of scolding, whining, the team got the right seals down and performed them together in as much unison as they could muster at the moment.

Smoke burst forth from within the circle they formed and a dark figure was seen. A…surprisingly _familiar figure._

A lazy drawl surfaced the air. "You guys are so troublesome. Summoning me while I was just about to take a nap."

"EH, SHIKAMARU!" Was all but yelled in together from the two blondes.

Wincing from the volume of their voices, lo and behold, in all his lethargic glory, Shikamaru yawned and eyed them dully. After a moment of being under his analytical stare, the chunin smirked.

"I'm guessing you guys did pretty good?"

He looked at his two former teammates, whom were happily smiling. Then the smirk wiped off his face as he became all business, well…the closest he could get to all business.

"Answer?"

"The mountain is the village." Chouji started.

"And everyone in it from the common villager to the Hokage is just important to it." Ino finished.

Naruto blinked and swiveled his head to look through the holes of his mask at his teammates. "Eh? Oh! I gettt it now!" He received three deadpanned looks in return.

Ignoring the masked blonde's statement, Shikamaru looked at them each, then stated simple as can be:

"You guys passed." And left in the most boring fashion possible. Shikamaru walked off easily, but not before saying one last thing to the person who took his place in the new and improved Team 10.

"Glad you're back."

**A/N: **Guess I'm back. For the time being.


	19. The End

Sorry guys.

I haven't been on in years...

But the point of this post bears no good news however for fans of this work.

I began this thing _three years ago. _And now, three years later, I don't have the heart to conitnue this anymore. I 've found too many errors and the story has completely lost its appeal to me.

Thank you so much for all the reviews, favorites, and encouragement! I sincerely appreciate it because it has what has pushed me to continue writing.

If you want to read more of my stuff, I suggest you read the one-shots laying around and to expect more to come up.

Thank you.


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